Montgomery County Rated 16th Wealthiest County in US

Commissioner James Matthews presented an encouraging view of the county’s economic standing at the last commissioners meeting, and stated that Montgomery County is the 16^th wealthiest county in the United States.

Matthews cited a Philly.com article from April 22, which cited data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. According to the article, Montgomery County had a $63,469 per-capita income in 2009.  

The income placed it 16 “among the large counties in the U.S. and first among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties,” according to the article. Chester County ranked 28^th in the data nationally with a $57,033 per capita income and Bucks County was ranked 57^th with a $46,516 per capita income.

According to the article, the analysis also included “employer-provided health insurance, dividends and interest incomes, Social Security benefits, and other types of income” in the per capita income calculations.

Matthews said the county’s current debt is at $545 per capita, which is close to the $518 per capita debt that existed when the current administration took office. He said the ratio of debt to the market value is 0.42, which is similar to the 0.36 ratio in 2008.

Out of the top 16 counties, 15 have some governmental responsibilities, except Massachusetts’ counties.

“Among these, Montgomery County has a lower county government debt per capita than all but one,” Matthews said, adding that San Mateo County in California is the only one with a lower debt per capita.

Matthews said a source of great pride for his administration is the county’s tax rate. At 2.695 mills, the rate is the same tax rate since the County adopted it in 2002 and 2007, he said.

The commissioner added that Montgomery County has a lower tax burden than the other 15 wealthiest counties and compared it to the surrounding counties.

“The county has a $151.19 tax burden per $100,000 market value,” Matthews said. He said Chester has a $219.66 tax burden and Bucks has a $239.66 tax burden.

“Not a county in the commonwealth that can come close,” Matthews said. “We’re the Rock of Gibraltar.”

Commissioner Joe Hoeffel echoed Matthews’ feelings. He said there has been a lot of “chatter” about the county being in a bad economic standing but the county is still on budget for spending.

“Talk of the county being bankrupt is false and reckless,” Hoeffel said.

Matthews said the county’s rainy day fund is larger than when he first took office in 1999 and said he believes the overall picture of the county is a successful one.