Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

This article provides information from a newly released report, from the John Locke Foundation entitled By the Numbers 2007: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties. In 2005, Robeson County ranked 79th among the state's 100 counties for the cost of city and county property taxes and fees per person. Robeson County residents paid an average of $932.27, compared to the state median of $1,134.68. Robeson County residents paid around 4.75% of their income for government costs, a percentage that is near the middle for North Carolinians. In 2005, according to the study, the average per capita income in Robeson County was $19,621. Lumberton's government cost per resident was $1,232, which was close to the state median for the 91 medium-sized municipalities.

The John Locke Foundation's Web site includes this statement about the report:
“County and municipal governments provide many key services while taking in billions in revenue. Their roles grow ever greater as state government shifts more taxing power to localities to make up for money kept by the state. Still, finding comparative data is hard. That's why this report provides information of how much local government costs in every city and county in NC.”
[see http://www.johnlocke.org/policy_reports/display_story.html?id=80]