There have been several posts here about Christiansburg's state required audits, but let's take a look at the county, too. After all, the Board of Supervisors does get the lions share of collected local sales and real property taxes.
According to the Auditor of Public Accounts (APA), Montgomery County's last reported budget was $149,569,304 (2007). Ouch! Well, given the bailouts to banks and Wall Street, that number doesn't seem so large any more. Fiscal year 2007-08 reporting hasn't been submitted yet.
Of that, $88,875,957 (or nearly 60%) went to public education. That's every school in Montgomery County (which, contrary to popular opinion includes schools located in Blacksburg and Christiansburg), serving over 9,500 students with approximately 1,500 employees. But don't look to the MCPS website for these details, instead search the county website for more than just a summary document. This equates to about $9300 per student, including feeding them -- still a bargain when comparing college tuition, books, room and board these days -- and includes debt service for new buildings that provide technology and science labs necessary for our children to become competitive in a global market.
Now before anyone gets their panties all twisted up, note that of the entire county budget, just under 47% comes from local tax revenues (or $69,817,723). That averages less than $793 a year for every citizen, (presuming everyone living here actually paid taxes) or $7349 per pupil. All other monies come from state or federal sources, including grants. And remember that a lot of the county's budget is restricted -- the dollars are only allocated for specific uses (schools, social services, sheriff's office, courts). Use them as mandated, or go without. There are quite a few unfunded mandates, too.
As an aside, it was interesting to see how limited the archives for the county and school system have become. Rather than growing, these appear to only go back about 18 months and exclude related referred-to (and attached hereto) documents. While this may be legally compliant with FOIA and State Code, it is difficult to justify removing information (requiring staff time) or being relative to storage constraints. Contrast this to the state or federal government (or Blacksburg), and viewers will find huge sites and databases that continue to add information without removing older records. See the Bureau of Labor Statistics as an example.
Comparative reports that drill down to local spending for towns, including Blacksburg or Christiansburg, can also be found at the APA website. This allows viewers to look at population, services, and tax burdens to determine their "return on investment" provided by local governments. Remember that unlike Radford, the towns do not contribute anything other than students to the public education process.
No one ever asks for higher taxes (except the lodging industry, when seeking funding for a regional tourism initiative). The question then becomes "What are you willing to go without?"