[Rich Ulery was a longtime resident of Nevada County. As a professional realtor Rich found time to give generously to the community through various leadership positions he held in civic organizations. He also served as the chairman of the NC Republican Central Committee. Rich and his bride are among the great exodus from California, having pulled up stakes and moving to Arizona last year. I post Rich’s email as received by permission. gjr]
Hi George,
I read that Nevada County supervisors just approved the 2019-20 budget of $258 million. While I understand the difficulty of comparing two different county budgets in two different states, I do find it interesting that Pima County, Arizona is wrestling with the approval of its $1.4 billion budget. Pima County has slightly more than 10 times the population of Nevada County, meaning that it costs Nevada County taxpayers almost 2X what it costs Pima County taxpayers to operate the county government.
Certainly, the impact of Federal and State mandates and differing demographics will pollute this comparison. There are also cost of living considerations, although I will assure you that Nevada County COL is not double Pima County — not even close. I will also assure you that Pima County has negligible unfunded pension liabilities. I suspect Nevada County is still hovering close to $200 million.
I'm not sure what conclusions, if any, to draw from this, but I found it at least intriguing.
Rich Ulery


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