Wake County, North Carolina
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Wake County is part of the Research Triangle metropolitan region, which encompasses the cities of Raleigh and Durham, the towns of Cary and Chapel Hill, and their surrounding suburban areas. The regional name originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located midway between Raleigh and Durham. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) of Raleigh-Durham-Cary. The estimated population of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA was 1,749,525 at the 2010 census, with the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) portion at 1,130,490 residents as of April 1, 2010.
Wake County is the 9th fastest growing county in the United States, with the town of Cary and the city of Raleigh being the 8th and 15th fastest growing cities, respectively.[1]
Website evaluation
This website was most recently reviewed Feb. 1, 2013.
The good
- Budget
- Meetings
- Elected Officials
- Names of elected officials, individual email address, individual phone numbers, and a physical address is available[6]
- Administration
- Names of administrative officials, individual email address, individual phone numbers, and a physical address is available[7]
- Zoning
- Audits
- The current audit is published and previous audits are available for the last three years[10]
- Audits are archived to 2002.
- Contracts
- Bids are posted, including approved contracts over $10,000[11]
- Public Records
- A public records contact is available and public records policies are available in a central location[12]
- Taxes
- Local tax information published, including a chart on how tax dollars are used.[13]
- The search function is excellent and the website layout intuitive.
The bad
- Lobbying
- A list of employed lobbyists and lobbying organization membership to government sector lobbying associations and associated fees are not posted.
Administrative Officials
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Scott Warren | County Attorney |
| Susan Banks | Board Clerk |
| Joseph Durham | Deputy County Manager |
| Johnna Rogers | Deputy County Manager |
| David Cooke | County Manager |
| Susan McCullen | Financial Services Director |
| Frank Cope | Director Community Services |
| Raymond Echevarria | Director County Fire/Rescue |
| Dave Goodwin | Director General Services |
| Elaine Johnson | Director Human Resources |
| Bill Greeves | Chief Information Officer |
| Marshall Parrish | Director Public Affairs |
| Marcus Kinrade | Director Revenue |
| Donald Harrison | Director Sheriff’s Office |
| Pat Sturdivant | Workforce Development Director |
Budget
The recommended budget in FY 2011-12 totals $951.5 million, nearly the same as FY 2010-11 ($951.5 million). The budget maintains the same existing property tax rate at 53.4 cents.[14]
Stimulus
The city of Raleigh, Wake County seat, received $2,998,752,005.18 in federal stimulus money in 272 grants and contracts.[15]
Local taxes
Property taxes accounted for the largest portion of revenue ($638,646,000), followed by sales taxes ($111,580,804), and other taxes ($8,530,421).
The property tax base is projected to grow by one percent, from $119.1 billion to $120.3 billion. Both real property, such as land as houses, and some personal property, are subject to property taxes.[16]
Salaries
Pensions
Emergency personnel
Lobbying
External links
References
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