How Does Your County Compare?

A look at Florida local government taxing and spending

Local taxing and spending is a major part of Florida government operations. More than half of all Florida government spending is done at the local level, one of the highest shares in the nation. Florida’s 66 county governments (plus Jacksonville’s consolidated government), more than 400 municipal governments, and approximately 1,000 independent special districts spend over $80 billion annually.

Taxpayers can use this website to see how their local governments stack up with the rest of the state. There is information on property taxes, other taxes and revenues, and expenditures.

While the focus is on county and municipal governments, we have included information on all types of local jurisdictions, including special districts and school districts. Most data is grouped geographically by county.

The property tax data includes all jurisdictions but the per capita revenue and expenditure data includes only county and municipal governments. Duval is not included in the county government tables but is included in the municipal tables and total county and municipal tables. Based on the system developed by the Florida Department of Financial Services, known as the LOGER System, we classified local government revenues into five categories: taxes, charges for services, licenses and permits, intergovernmental revenues and other revenues. Expenditures were classified as general government, public safety, physical environment, transportation, economic environment, human services, culture and recreation, and debt service.

Limitations of the data must be considered. Data is self-reported by local governments and errors and omissions can occur. And while the classification system helps, there may be some differences in how governments account for similar functions. Also, this report often groups data into geographic county totals in order to derive an average for all residents in the county. Depending on where in the county a person lives, deviations can occur.

This website compares the magnitude and makeup of Florida’s local governments’ fiscal operations. It makes no attempt to compare or evaluate levels of service. We hope the information on this website and its companion report can help taxpayers make those assessments for themselves, for it is only through knowledge and participation that you can decide if you get the government you pay for.

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Florida TaxWatch 106 N Bronough St. Tallahassee, FL 32301
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Morgan McCord
Communications Coordinator
850.222.5052
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