Moving beyond the budget hype
I knew what it was the moment I saw the oversized envelope from Virginia’s Auditor of Public Accounts: The newspaper’s copy of the “Comparative Report on Local Government Revenues and Expenditures” had been finished, printed, mailed and delivered.
Yay!
My first instinct was to pass off the 177-page report to Danville government reporter Denice Thibodeau and Pittsylvania County government reporter John Crane. Surely, the two of them — hip deep in details about the city and county budgets — would find it useful.
I know I always do.
The report compares Virginia’s cities, counties and towns against one another — measuring taxes, government spending and debt. I’ve used the comparative report countless times to dissect the sometimes off-the-wall claims about the size and scope of local governments here in the Dan River Region.
It’s how I know that Pittsylvania County’s property tax bite ($456.01 per person) is less than a third of the average for Virginia’s 95 counties ($1,420.62). The report is also how I know that Danville spends $246.89 per person for “Planning and Community Development” versus the city average of $154.67.
Fun stuff, right?
Well, if you want to get an accurate picture of how much money Danville and Pittsylvania County spend, this is the authoritative source. It’s one of the building blocks used to construct stories and editorials that appear in the Danville Register & Bee.
Posted by Robert Benson at 08:05 PM. Filed under: benson_main •
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