Now that I know how to post spreadsheets here, why not go nuts?
I attached a spreadsheet on health care finance backing up my assertions on that subject in an earlier post.
I attached a spreadsheet of comparable fiscal 2004 local government finance data to my prior post on who the winners are in New York tax and spending priorities.
And, for comparison, attached here is more detailed information for FY 2002, for New York City, the Downstate Suburbs, Upstate Metros, the rest ofr New York State, New Jersey, the United States, and Fairfield County.
In addition, for the fun of it, I also attached on spreadhseet on comparative local goverment finance in several parts of California. I whipped this up to send out to Donna Frye, in lieu of donation, who was running for Mayor of San Diego. I hope she found it useful, but she lost. Would that we had a Donna and Skip Frye in New York.
The comparison made is revenues and expenditures per $1,000 of residents’ personal income. Evaluating financial data based on this ratio adjusts for the relative cost of living (and thus what comparable government workers and contractors should be paid) and the ability to pay taxes. Ideally, the two cancel each other out, meaning equal services ought to be available at the same share of personal income given equal efficiency.
The distribution of services between state and local government varies from place to place, so adjustments have been made to keep things comparable. See notes in the spreadsheet.
What is being measured is direct expenditures, to keep the same dollar of expenditures from being counted twice. Thus Medicaid-funded spending at NYC public hospitals is counted as hospital spending, not direct Medicaid spending. That is also counted as intergovernmental aid to the city from the state. Meanwhile, to help fund it, the city sends intergovernment (welfare) aid to the state (all of which is Medicaid). If you don’t understand the flows, it’s hard to describe the data property. I’d be happy to answer any questions. E-mail me at vampire-state (at) att.net.