The Data Explosion – Finding What Municipalities Need Julie A. Jacobson, Auburn Town Manager

May 21, 2015

Central Mass

Data Day 2015

PAST PRACTICES CURRENT USAGE: (2007-2011) (2012-2014)

SAND USAGE: 5,620 TONS/YEAR 600 TONS/YEARSALT USAGE: 1,840 TONS/YEAR 2,136 TONS/YEARTOTAL MATERIAL: 7,460 TONS/YEAR 2,736 TONS/YEAR

Initiatives, Projects and Plans Requiring Data

Economic DevelopmentBusiness DevelopmentGrant ApplicationsBond Rating Process and

Official StatementMaster PlansOpen Space and Recreation

PlansBy Law CreationAnalysis of Land Use

OptionsHousing Trends

Traffic PatternsAnalysis of Property ValuesTopography (solar potential,

building potential) Community Comparisons

(salary, permits, licenses, property values)

Road Conditions, salt-sand ratios Public Health Issues – West Nile,

Flu virus, EbolaAsian Long-Horned Beetle

Quarantine Area Insurance Renewals…

Economic Development

Breakdown of businesses by industry sector

# Employees per company

Workforce StatisticsEducational AttainmentCommute Time StatisticsIndustry economic impact

multipliers

Effective Buying Income Comps of cost of doing

business (utilities, taxes, labor)

Transportation RoutesCost of new construction

vs. rehabilitationPopulation/market in

radius of 30, 50, 100 miles

Grants

Identify gaps in services/programs

Impacts of infrastructure projects on economic development (new jobs, new businesses, increased permitting)

Statistics related to grant objectives (# youth served, median family incomes, traffic counts, energy usage)

Measurables pre- and post- grant

Estimate cost of construction, labor, equipment

Estimate cost per linear foot, per square foot

Comparisons with other potential grantees

Master, Housing and Open Space Plans

Demographics within the Town

Population TrendsHousing characteristicsHousing trends by areaOwner-Occupied UnitsAcreage by land useSquare footage by

industry sector

Educational StatisticsAnalysis of community

needs – land, services, programs

Amount of remaining suitable buildable acres

Infrastructure networkImpacts of new residents

or housing units on services/schools

Bond Rating and Official Statement

Current Data on IncomeUnemployment TrendsResidential and Commercial Sales and CompsPermit information Investment in InfrastructureAnalysis of Reserves, Free Cash, Stabilization, Excess LevyRegional Transportation Network School Enrollment and ProjectionsCommercial and Industrial Developments planned, underway,

completedAnticipated impact on budgets or operations due to state or federal

mandates, laws, legislation, policies

Commonly Used Data Formats

ChartsGraphsPhotosMapsInteractive maps and chartsDiagramsImportable databasesLinks to Reports

The Data Deluge – Is it lack of data or lack of a centralized portal to find the data needed?

Click icon to add picture

BOTH

How can CentralMass DataCommon Assist?

Access to municipal or regional studiesAccess to updated demographicsAbility to merge data with municipal GIS systemsPortal for all local, regional and statewide dataAbility to compare data from municipality to

municipality, municipality to state, or municipality to national averages

User-friendly data that can be imported or manipulated for specific plans, projects or initiatives