In an effort to understand and compare the relative efficiency of local governments, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill developed the “North Carolina Stewardship Index.” The index takes into account the charges for basic services in each of the 25 largest municipalities in North Carolina.

The index uses a hypothetical property value of $300,000 and uses that as the basis for calculating the cost of municipal services in each municipality.

Wilmington ranks #1 in this index, meaning that Wilmington taxpayers get more for their tax dollar money than the other 24 largest municipalities in North Carolina.

		Read Professor Michael Jacobs' article "Charting cities' financial stewardship" from the News & Observer website.
		View the data compiled by Prof. Jacobs for his Stewardship Index comparing the 25 largest cities in the state.
		View data comparing ten NC municipalities, including additional costs such as trash and stormwater.

Click on the chart to enlarge image.

The chart above shows the cost of local government services to the taxpayer in the 25 largest cities in the state. The chart comes from data compiled by Prof. Michael Jacobs in his Stewardship Index.