{"id":1627,"date":"2024-09-19T16:53:28","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T16:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bentonfranklintrends.org\/newsletter\/?page_id=1627"},"modified":"2024-10-01T19:46:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T19:46:14","slug":"oct24_main2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bentonfranklintrends.org\/newsletter\/oct24_main2\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Governments\u2019 Budgets Here are Relatively Generous to Law Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Dr. Patrick Jones<\/strong><\/p>

The greater Tri Cities puts a premium on law enforcement. That is the inescapable conclusion of the data presented in Trends 8.3.2<\/a>, Expenditures on Law Enforcement. <\/em>In 2023, per-person local expenditures over all the jurisdictions in the two counties with police or sheriffs\u2019 agencies was about $310. (With federal and state grants, the average was certainly higher.)<\/p>

This represents an increase of about 50% from per-person expenditures from a decade ago. And it places the greater Tri Cities at a level of local support just below the Washington average for 2023: $325 per person. This is also the second-highest level of per capita support among the Eastern Washington metros, bested only in 2023 by Spokane County, which revealed $350 spent per person there. (Yakima County was the lowest for 2023, at $229 per capita.)<\/p>

As with many dollar-denominated measures of the Benton Franklin Trends, a difference exists between the two counties. In 2023, jurisdictions in Benton County spent a bit more than the two-county average, with $319 local dollars per person, while jurisdictions in Franklin County spent $293 local dollars. And among the three cities, Kennewick allocated the most local dollars while Richland allocated the least. (These results are viewable on the graph via the radio buttons in the upper right-hand corner.)<\/p>

Some of the differences of local spending among all jurisdictions may be due to decisions by elected officials and more broadly, to preferences expressed by voters who elected the officials. Another source of difference simply might be that some jurisdictions enjoy more income to spend on municipal services in general. Trends 8.3.2<\/a> controls, at least at the metro and county levels, for differentials in income via a secondary measure, local expenditures as a share of $1,000 of personal income<\/em> (the line in the metro and county graphs of 8.3.2).<\/p>

For the two-county area, the amount of local government dollars spent on law enforcement in 2023 was $6.10 per thousand personal income, or about 0.6%.\u00a0 The result differed only slightly between the two counties. That allocation of the collective checkbook of local governments was nearly 50% higher than the average municipal checkbook statewide in 2023. In fact, while the share of income allocated by local governments statewide to law enforcement has shrunk over the past decade, the share here has gone in the opposite direction.<\/p>

The interpretation: on a dollar-for-dollar basis, residents of the greater Tri Cities place greater value, as seen in the share of their collective local public spending on law enforcement than their counterparts throughout the state. This is true even though per capita expenditures is slightly lower here than the state average.<\/p>

A curious twist to a look at public support for law enforcement is found in a sister indicator, 8.3.1<\/a>, Number of Commissioned Officers<\/em>. There, one can see that the number of commissioned officers in all jurisdictions in the two counties has grown by 35 persons over the past decade (ending in 2022). But as a rate per 1,000 residents, the number of local officers has declined, from 1.25 in 2013 to 1.21 in 2022. The result does not vary by county, and the rate rests slightly below the average of all local jurisdictions in the state.<\/p>

Clearly, the number of officers has not kept up with population growth in Benton and Franklin Counties. Yet, local per capita spending has outpaced the state average. Are there any explanations out there for this paradox?<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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