The new JLF report, By The Numbers: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties FY 2011, uses the most recent data available from the State Treasurer, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Bureau of Economic Analysis to construct rankings of local government cost on a per-person basis. For counties, report author Michael Lowrey also constructed rankings on a share-of-income basis.
Local taxes and fees topped $2,303 per person in Chapel Hill during the 2011 budget year, as the Orange County town maintained its No. 2 rank among North Carolina’s largest municipalities in per capita local government costs. Cary jumped ahead of Raleigh on the list, and Wake County’s two largest communities ranked in the top 10 statewide.
Cary ($1,900) moved up seven spots to rank No. 9 in the John Locke Foundation’s annual ranking of North Carolina’s local tax-and-fee burdens. Raleigh ($1,892) dropped one spot to No. 10.
Durham ($2,067) climbed one spot to No. 5. Wake Forest ($1,852) dropped three spots to No. 13. Garner ($1,812) climbed two spots to No. 17, while Apex ($1,663) dropped two spots to No. 22.
Mooresville ended Charlotte’s 11-year run at the top of the statewide rankings. The Queen City dropped to No. 3, while Wilmington ranked No. 4. The list compared 34 municipalities with at least 25,000 residents. Jacksonville, Indian Trail, Thomasville, Asheboro, and Goldsboro ranked lowest among the larger cities.
Among North Carolina’s 92 ranked medium-sized municipalities, eight Triangle-area communities ranked among the state’s top 25 for their rates of local revenues per person: Hillsborough ($2,393), Carrboro ($2,170), Morrisville ($2,033), Smithfield ($1,901), Holly Springs ($1,894), Knightdale ($1,753), Siler City ($1,739), and Fuquay-Varina ($1,728).
Other area municipalities were closer to the state median, including Wendell ($1,661), Clayton ($1,615), Henderson ($1,499), Selma ($1,397), and Oxford ($1,382). Butner ($994) places No. 88 among the 92 ranked municipalities in this group. Roxboro is unranked for a second straight year because of incomplete data.
Durham (5.86 percent) County moves up three spots to No. 6 when counties are ranked by the tax-and-fee burden as a share of personal income. Wake (4.60 percent) ranks No. 27, while Orange (4.60 percent) ranks No. 28. Most other area counties ranked closer to the state median of 4.15 percent. That includes Vance (4.33 percent), Franklin (3.82 percent), Johnston (3.80 percent), and Person (3.50 percent). Granville (3.42 percent) and Chatham (3.30 percent) ranked among the 25 counties with the lowest per person tax burdens.
