[AnAmericanMother]

Here it depends on the county. Fulton County (Atlanta) is of course the biggest sink of iniquity in the state, lord knows where the money goes because nobody else is telling. When we sold our old house, we specifically looked to get OUT of Fulton.

But our current county is very efficient in its use of money, and it has the highest bond rating of any county in the state. That's one of the reasons we moved here (they also have much lower property taxes and the police and fire service are exemplary.)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Here in the Commonwealth, police, fire and schools are all municipal (generally town) responsibilities and paid for by local real estate taxes. Mileage varies as to efficiency. My town has 5,000 residents, so total townhall employees are in single digits, most part time.

Just about the only county functions are sheriff and register of deeds. The sheriff runs the county jails and his biggest responsibility is running a taxi and boarding service for prisoners awaiting trial. Sheriff doesn’t do any significant law enforcement.

Sheriff’s office and registry of deeds are the proverbial hackaramas.

Middlesex County took on the responsibility of running two hospitals which were vital to providing jobs for the relatives and (invariably girl-)friends of county officials who couldn’t be hidden in the sheriff’s office or registry.