Case Study

Wake County, NC Strategic Municipal Planning

Between 2000 and 2005, Wake County, NC experienced explosive growth with its population increasing by 148%, the sixth highest rate among the nation's largest counties. In turn, that growth has triggered increasing demand for new and expanded schools, roads and other critical capital infrastructure. In 2006 a Blue Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County hired PFM to provide insight on how other rapid growth communities were meeting this challenge.

After working with the County to identify peer counties, PFM identified important similarities and differences between their methods for funding capital projects in six areas - schools, community colleges, water/sewer facilities, transportation, criminal justice and open space. In addition to a broad overview of funding methods, PFM provided more detailed case studies on specific innovative efforts. PFM then distilled the demographic, budgetary and tax burden analysis into a clear, concise presentation to give Wake community leaders deeper insight into the nature of the population growth challenge, the strengths and weaknesses of their own financial tools and effective alternatives used elsewhere.