Growls

Two weeks ago, we growled about the cost of various services of county government, noting that Arlington is among the “top spenders “ of Northern Virginia’s local jurisdictions on a per capita basis. We used data from the Comparative Report of Local Government Revenues & Expenditures for FY 2007 published by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts.

In the Public Safety category, Arlington spent $826.94 with Alexandria the “runner-up” at $786.29 while Loudoun County was the lowest at $423.75. Today, we’ll take a closer look by focusing on three components of Public Safety: Law Enforcement & Traffic Control; Fire and Rescue Services; and Correction and Detention.

• Law Enforcement & Traffic Control. Falls Church spends the most at $404.79 followed closely by Alexandria at $390.52. By contrast, Arlington spends $304.40 per capita with Loudoun County spending only $159.33 per capita.

• Fire & Rescue Services. Arlington spends the most at $296.08 followed by Alexandria at $223.01 per capita. By contrast, Falls Church spends only $155.01 per capita.

• Correction & Detention. Falls Church is tops at $154.11 per capita followed closely by Arlington at $153.78 per capita. Spending the least on a per capita basis in Northern Virginia is Fairfax County at $64.03.

If the Arlington County Board required the Manager and his department heads to periodically explain the differences in per capita spending among Northern Virginia jurisdictions, they might learn that some things are being performed inefficiently while some things might have little or no payoff in terms of providing safety to county residents. Do ya’ think? Even the Arlington School Board cooperates with other school districts in the region to annually produce the WABE Guide, which enables taxpayers to compare the performance of the Arlington Public Schools with other districts in the region.