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JLF: Mooresville Government Most Expensive Of Any Large City In North Carolina
Publisher's note: The author of this post is the CJ Staff, who is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.
By The Numbers reflects per-person cost of city and county government to taxpayers statewide
RALEIGH The local annual tax and fee burden now tops more than $2,000 per person in seven of North Carolina's largest cities. Mooresville ended Charlotte's 11-year run as the large city with the highest per-person local government bill. That's according to By The Numbers: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties FY 2011, the 15th annual report published by the John Locke Foundation on local tax burdens.
The average North Carolinian surrendered almost 4.4 percent of his personal income to fund city and county government in the 2011 budget year.
"The typical resident of the median county in North Carolina paid $1,242 in taxes and fees to county and municipal governments," said report author Michael Lowrey, a JLF policy analyst.
Local tax collections in nominal (not adjusted for inflation) terms were up about $400 million in the 2011 fiscal year as compared to the previous year. Because of inflation and population growth, those dollars went further for local governments in 2010, when inflation-adjusted revenues for the median county were $1,288 per capita.
Local government taxes and fees came to 4.15 percent of per-capita personal income in the median county in fiscal 2010, down from 2010 when it was 4.24 percent of per-capita personal income.
Not all revenue sources grew during the 2011 budget year.
"Sales tax revenues were flat, while property tax receipts increased by about $150 million," said Lowrey. "Water department revenues and other tax and fee income also saw significant increases."
This continues a recent trend. Since the onset of the Great Recession, local governments increasingly have become dependent on property tax receipts, Lowrey noted. "In 2007, property taxes made up 56.5 percent of nonutility local revenues," he said. "In 2011 that figure had increased to more than 65 percent."
Calculating burdens
State law requires each county and municipality to file audited reports, which are available on the Web, with the N.C. Treasurer's Office each year.
By The Numbers builds on that data and examines property taxes, sales taxes, and total local government collections of all taxes and fees for counties and municipalities for fiscal 2011 (July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011), the latest year for which data is available.
For each of the categories, a revenue per-capita figure was computed. Countywide figures also were calculated as a percentage of per-capita personal income.
Counties are ranked against each other for both their per-capita collections and collections as a percentage of personal income. Municipalities are sorted by population and ranked within four population ranges (less than 1,000 population; 1,000-4,999; 5,000-24,999; and 25,000 or more).
While By The Numbers estimates the cost of local government, it does not attempt to measure the quantity or quality of services provided in exchange for those dollars. Nor does the report consider the additional out-of pocket costs individuals pay for services their local government may not provide.
In unincorporated areas, for example, homeowners might have to contract privately for garbage pickup, while those living in a town or city might receive this service, paid with municipal property and other taxes. Municipalities also might use some of their tax dollars to provide a higher quality of fire protection, which might translate into lower homeowners insurance rates.
"Importantly, this means that whether a jurisdiction is ranked high or low in cost of government is not the end of the debate over fiscal policy -- it is merely the beginning," Lowrey said. "Citizens of North Carolina's cities and counties must decide whether the services they receive are worth the price they and their fellow taxpayers -- residential and business -- are paying in local taxes and fees."
Work on this year's report was complicated by the failure of a number of localities to file audit reports with the state in a timely manner. Four counties -- Cherokee, Harnett, Hoke, and Sampson -- and 39 municipalities did not file their reports in a timely manner and information on them is not available from the treasurer's office.
The cost of local government
Dare County residents paid the highest amount in taxes and fees to county and municipal governments ($4,290 per capita). The counties of Currituck ($2,499), Mecklenburg ($2,421), Brunswick ($2,400), and Durham ($2,266) also ranked in the top five in revenue collected per capita. The results for several of these counties reflect their popularity as vacation destinations, and second homes and resorts appear on local tax registers. Because owners or renters only rarely live in these dwellings year-round, however, such localities typically have small permanent populations. High tax values divided by a small permanent population produces a high per-capita tax burden.
Residents in the counties of Gates ($778), Caswell ($781), Greene ($817), Alexander ($64), and McDowell ($887) paid the lowest average amounts in taxes and fees to local governments.
As per-capita personal incomes vary widely across the state -- from a high of $48,683 per person in Orange County to a low of $24,417 in Anson County -- looking at tax burdens as a percentage of personal income produces somewhat different results. Dare County again lead the way with county and municipal revenue accounting for 11.12 percent of per-capita personal income. Second through fifth were the counties of Brunswick (7.19 percent of per-capita personal income), Tyrell (7.17 percent), Hyde (7.15 percent), and Currituck (6.25 percent).
By comparison, taxes and fees collected by local governments accounted for 2.32 percent of per-capita personal income in Onslow County. Next lowest were Caswell and Jones counties at 2.49 percent and 2.64 percent of per-capita personal income respectively. In 43 counties, total collections were at 4 percent of per-capita personal income or less.
Among the 34 municipalities with a population of 25,000 or higher, Mooresville residents paid the greatest in taxes and fees to support local government, with combined city and county revenue coming to $2,311 per person. The next highest tax and fee burdens were in Chapel Hill ($2,303), Charlotte ($2,255), Wilmington ($2,165), and Durham ($2,067).
The entire By the Numbers report is available online here (PDF download).
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By The Numbers reflects per-person cost of city and county government to taxpayers statewide
RALEIGH The local annual tax and fee burden now tops more than $2,000 per person in seven of North Carolina's largest cities. Mooresville ended Charlotte's 11-year run as the large city with the highest per-person local government bill. That's according to By The Numbers: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties FY 2011, the 15th annual report published by the John Locke Foundation on local tax burdens.
The average North Carolinian surrendered almost 4.4 percent of his personal income to fund city and county government in the 2011 budget year.
"The typical resident of the median county in North Carolina paid $1,242 in taxes and fees to county and municipal governments," said report author Michael Lowrey, a JLF policy analyst.
Local tax collections in nominal (not adjusted for inflation) terms were up about $400 million in the 2011 fiscal year as compared to the previous year. Because of inflation and population growth, those dollars went further for local governments in 2010, when inflation-adjusted revenues for the median county were $1,288 per capita.
Local government taxes and fees came to 4.15 percent of per-capita personal income in the median county in fiscal 2010, down from 2010 when it was 4.24 percent of per-capita personal income.
Not all revenue sources grew during the 2011 budget year.
"Sales tax revenues were flat, while property tax receipts increased by about $150 million," said Lowrey. "Water department revenues and other tax and fee income also saw significant increases."
This continues a recent trend. Since the onset of the Great Recession, local governments increasingly have become dependent on property tax receipts, Lowrey noted. "In 2007, property taxes made up 56.5 percent of nonutility local revenues," he said. "In 2011 that figure had increased to more than 65 percent."
Calculating burdens
State law requires each county and municipality to file audited reports, which are available on the Web, with the N.C. Treasurer's Office each year.
By The Numbers builds on that data and examines property taxes, sales taxes, and total local government collections of all taxes and fees for counties and municipalities for fiscal 2011 (July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011), the latest year for which data is available.
For each of the categories, a revenue per-capita figure was computed. Countywide figures also were calculated as a percentage of per-capita personal income.
Counties are ranked against each other for both their per-capita collections and collections as a percentage of personal income. Municipalities are sorted by population and ranked within four population ranges (less than 1,000 population; 1,000-4,999; 5,000-24,999; and 25,000 or more).
While By The Numbers estimates the cost of local government, it does not attempt to measure the quantity or quality of services provided in exchange for those dollars. Nor does the report consider the additional out-of pocket costs individuals pay for services their local government may not provide.
In unincorporated areas, for example, homeowners might have to contract privately for garbage pickup, while those living in a town or city might receive this service, paid with municipal property and other taxes. Municipalities also might use some of their tax dollars to provide a higher quality of fire protection, which might translate into lower homeowners insurance rates.
"Importantly, this means that whether a jurisdiction is ranked high or low in cost of government is not the end of the debate over fiscal policy -- it is merely the beginning," Lowrey said. "Citizens of North Carolina's cities and counties must decide whether the services they receive are worth the price they and their fellow taxpayers -- residential and business -- are paying in local taxes and fees."
Work on this year's report was complicated by the failure of a number of localities to file audit reports with the state in a timely manner. Four counties -- Cherokee, Harnett, Hoke, and Sampson -- and 39 municipalities did not file their reports in a timely manner and information on them is not available from the treasurer's office.
The cost of local government
Dare County residents paid the highest amount in taxes and fees to county and municipal governments ($4,290 per capita). The counties of Currituck ($2,499), Mecklenburg ($2,421), Brunswick ($2,400), and Durham ($2,266) also ranked in the top five in revenue collected per capita. The results for several of these counties reflect their popularity as vacation destinations, and second homes and resorts appear on local tax registers. Because owners or renters only rarely live in these dwellings year-round, however, such localities typically have small permanent populations. High tax values divided by a small permanent population produces a high per-capita tax burden.
Residents in the counties of Gates ($778), Caswell ($781), Greene ($817), Alexander ($64), and McDowell ($887) paid the lowest average amounts in taxes and fees to local governments.
As per-capita personal incomes vary widely across the state -- from a high of $48,683 per person in Orange County to a low of $24,417 in Anson County -- looking at tax burdens as a percentage of personal income produces somewhat different results. Dare County again lead the way with county and municipal revenue accounting for 11.12 percent of per-capita personal income. Second through fifth were the counties of Brunswick (7.19 percent of per-capita personal income), Tyrell (7.17 percent), Hyde (7.15 percent), and Currituck (6.25 percent).
By comparison, taxes and fees collected by local governments accounted for 2.32 percent of per-capita personal income in Onslow County. Next lowest were Caswell and Jones counties at 2.49 percent and 2.64 percent of per-capita personal income respectively. In 43 counties, total collections were at 4 percent of per-capita personal income or less.
Among the 34 municipalities with a population of 25,000 or higher, Mooresville residents paid the greatest in taxes and fees to support local government, with combined city and county revenue coming to $2,311 per person. The next highest tax and fee burdens were in Chapel Hill ($2,303), Charlotte ($2,255), Wilmington ($2,165), and Durham ($2,067).
The entire By the Numbers report is available online here (PDF download).
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