Butler Economic Impact in the County and the Region | Butler Community College
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Butler Economic Impact in the County and the Region

Southcentral Kansas Regional Impact

Every $1 Southcentral Kansas residents pay in taxes to the college adds approximately $2.30 to the county's economy and generates $ 6.90 in social savings for the region.

As an enterprise, Butler Community College

  • contributes $ 387 million to the economy in aggregate institutional, student, and alumni spending
  • supports 6,311 jobs
  • is responsible for 1 % of the region's entire economic output
  • provides a four-fold lifetime return to students for their tuition dollars

The study was conducted in 2019 by Economic Modeling Specialists Inc (EMSI) of Moscow, Idaho which is the nation's premier economic and workforce modeling firm for college and universities and is a workforce analysis partner for the Kansas Board of Regents.
 

Butler County Impact

Every $1 Butler County residents pay in taxes to the college adds at least $2.88 to the county's economy.

Butler Community College received $15,997,315 in taxes from Butler County ($15,463,841 in property taxes and another $533,474 as part of the county's share of the annual state grant to the institution).

  1. The college spent $8,718,833 on goods and services in Butler County.
  2. Employees spent $4,737,456 in disposable income in Butler County
  3. Students spent $32,585,064 in Butler County
  • Total Direct Economic impact was $46,041,352 (Items 1-3 added together.)

Total taxes: $15,997,315 (investment)
Total benefit to Butler County: $46,041,352 (return on investment)

Economic Profile of Butler County, Kansas (pdf)


Multipliers

The return on investment of $2.88 for every tax dollar does not include a multiplier. Typically, economic impact studies concerned with geographic areas the size of counties use multipliers ranging from 1.9 to 3.0. This is to estimate the socioeconomic benefits of having a higher education institution in the county, and the 'recycling' that every dollar directly spent goes through, contributing more to the county's aggregate income until the third 'cycle'. Using such a multiplier measures the indirect and broader impact of the college.

A conservative multiplier of 1.9 would yield a benefit to Butler County of $87,478,570, or $5.47 for every tax dollar.

 

The study was conducted in 2019 by Butler's Institutional Research staff using the Ryan Shorthand Model of the National Council for Resource Development and was corroborated and certified by Gene George Consulting, a higher education management consulting firm based in El Dorado, Kansas.