Budget talk is heating up (well, as much as budget talk ever heats up): Should the city and the county lower the tax rates in the wake of double-digit rises in real estate assessments? If so, what should get cut? What should the government do to help middle-class homeowners? Are the schools getting all the money they need? Etc.
It’s been widely reported how much the budgets have increased from last year—operating budgets are up 12 percent in the city and 6 percent in the county—but what do these million-dollar babies translate into per capita? After slogging through the various charts and funding-speak of our local budgets, C-VILLE compiled the following comparison chart for your perusal.
2007-08 proposed local budgets, per capita
The chart is based on the proposed city and county budgets. Population figures are based on those from the Weldon Cooper Center for 2006, which lists Charlottesville’s population as 39,756 and Albemarle’s as 90,806.
| City | County | |
| Total budget | $3,528.85 | $3,473.34 |
| Operating budget | $3,093.72 | $2,930.42 |
| Capital budget | $435.13 | $359.01 |
| REVENUE | ||
| Local taxes | $2,568.04 | $2,127.61 |
| State revenue | $759.06 | $808.32 |
| Federal revenue | $133.31 | $167.39 |
| EXPENDITURES (from general fund) | ||
| Schools | $955.78 | $1,101.25 |
| Public safety/ Judicial |
$789.78 | $362.31 |
| Parks & Rec | $183.61 | $28.63 |
| Administration | $148.40 | $124.44 |
| Transit/JAUNT | $57.85 | $12.11 |
Sources: City Manager’s Office; Office of the County Executive
For more information, go to: www.charlottesville.org and www.albemarle.org
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