Fairfax County
Taxpayer's Alliance

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Gov't Size in Maryland Counties - 2012

Gov't Size in Maryland Counties - 2012

-- by David Swink, FCTA, 07/28/2014

FCTA has been appalled by the cost of government. In Virginia, we have compared the 134 local governing jurisdictions (96 counties and 38 cities) strictly by the percentage of each population devoted to government, testing the proposition that "body count" might be an indicator of local government "efficiency". Virginia counties and cities averaged 3.95 percent.

We wanted to then check the results for Maryland (a very blue state) and Texas (a very red state), to see if there is some political correlation. The table below shows the results for Maryland, whose government "body count" for its 24 counties averaged 4.17 percent of the population.

Finding: With average local government "efficiency" in VA at 3.95%, MD at 4.17%, and TX at 4.22% -- a mere 0.27% variation -- we have not found this "body count" metric to be a major cost driver. So one must instead watch how those public servants are spending your money.

 MdLoc:County: Locality     2012 Pop(Est)  GenGov + Safety + School = TotGov  PctGov 
 Md001:AlleCo: Allegany Co        73,869      641      300    2,371    3,312   4.48%
 Md003:AnneCo: Anne Arundel Co   550,175    3,979    2,565   13,158   19,702   3.58%
 Md005:BaltCo: Baltimore Co      817,682    5,114    4,700   21,458   31,272   3.82%
 Md510:BaltCi: Baltimore City    622,417    9,534    6,167   12,802   28,503   4.58%
 Md009:CalvCo: Calvert Co         89,694      812      296    2,553    3,661   4.08%
 Md011:CaroCo: Caroline Co        32,644      342      115      968    1,425   4.37%
 Md013:AtasCo: Carroll Co        167,210    1,091      515    5,324    6,930   4.14%
 MD015:CeciCo: Cecil Co          101,684      606      355    3,047    4,008   3.94%
 Md017:CharCo: Charles Co        150,710      996      726    5,330    7,052   4.68%
 Md019:DorcCo: Dorchester Co      32,554      353      183      865    1,401   4.30%
 Md021:FredCo: Frederick Co      239,520    2,279    1,113    7,999   11,391   4.76%
 Md023:GarrCo: Garrett Co         29,850      386       88    1,129    1,603   5.37%
 Md025:HarfCo: Harford Co        248,540    1,585      922    7,357    9,864   3.97%
 Md027:HowaCo: Howard Co         299,356    2,370    1,181   10,916   14,467   4.83%
 Md029:KentCo: Kent Co            20,112      243       96      425      764   3.80%
 Md031:MontCo: Montgomery Co   1,004,476   13,225    4,552   28,323   46,100   4.59%
 Md033:PrgeCo: Pr George's Co    881,419    4,336    4,763   22,677   31,776   3.61%
 Md035:QuanCo: Queen Anne's Co    48,542      491      137    1,622    2,250   4.64%
 Md037:StmaCo: Saint Mary's Co   108,993      613      266    2,863    3,742   3.43%
 Md039:SomeCo: Somerset Co        26,206      248      105      599      952   3.63%
 Md041:TalbCo: Talbot Co          38,040      578      180      756    1,514   3.98%
 Md043:WashCo: Washington Co     149,087    1,020      612    4,225    5,857   3.93%
 Md045:WicoCo: Wicomico Co       100,521      895      549    3,234    4,678   4.65%
 Md047:WorcCo: Worcester Co       51,567    1,112      491    1,425    3,028   5.87%

 Md000:AllCo:    24 Counties   5,884,868   52,849   30,977  161,426  245,252   4.17%

 Md000:State:  State Gov't     5,884,868   37,222   19,712   30,047   86,981   1.48%

  NOTE: All jobs are "Full-Time Equivalent Employment"
        "Safety" includes Police, Fire, Corrections, and Judicial

Helpful reference: American FactFinder Deep Linking Guide -- Version 2.6, March 22, 2013