Lee County government spent $4,177 for every resident in the year that ended June 30, 2025. That is almost exactly the middle of the 90 Virginia counties in the report, where the median was $4,214. What sets Lee apart is who pays: the county raised 23.4% of its revenue locally, the lowest share among the 90 counties in the state auditor’s latest comparative report.
The figures come from the Auditor of Public Accounts’ fiscal 2025 comparative report, amended on Oct. 5, 2026 to add Lee and other late filers. The per-person amounts, medians and rankings below are The Lee Daily Register’s own calculations from that report’s Excel file. They cover the county government and its schools, not town governments, capital projects, debt payments or utilities, and use the county’s full population of 21,610. Five counties had not completed their filings and are not counted: Amherst, Caroline, Halifax, King William and Warren.
Most of the money comes from Richmond and Washington
Of Lee’s $99.5 million in revenue, $23.3 million was raised locally, $58.7 million came from the state and $17.5 million from the federal government. Scott County, at 25.4%, was next lowest. The typical county raised 52.9% of its own money.
| Share of revenue, FY2025 | Local | State | Federal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | 23.4% | 59.0% | 17.6% |
| Scott | 25.4% | 62.7% | 11.9% |
| Wise | 29.6% | 58.6% | 11.7% |
| Russell | 35.9% | 53.4% | 10.6% |
| Dickenson | 39.5% | 49.7% | 10.8% |
| Median county | 52.9% | 38.6% | 8.4% |
In dollars, Lee raised $1,076 per person locally, against a median of $2,256, and ranked last of 90. Dickenson County, with the highest local share of the five, reported $8.4 million in coal, oil and gas taxes, about 85% of its other local taxes. In the amended fiscal 2023 report, Lee also had the lowest share of the 95 counties then listed, at 23.4%. Local revenue per person rose about 20% from $894 in fiscal 2023, while the median county’s rose about 10%.
A separate state report measures the tax base behind these numbers. The Commission on Local Government’s fiscal 2023 stress report estimates that Lee’s tax base could raise $1,507 per person at statewide average rates, the fourth-lowest of 133 cities and counties. Wise ranked sixth-lowest at $1,760. The same report’s revenue effort score, which compares what a locality collects with that estimate, was 0.58 for Lee. Wise scored 0.80, Scott 0.81, Russell 0.70 and Dickenson 1.14, and the average county scored 0.72. Those scores are for fiscal 2023, so newer figures may differ.
Where Lee spends less, and where it spends more
| Spending per person, FY2025 | Lee | Wise | Scott | Dickenson | Russell | Median | Lee’s rank of 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | $4,177 | $4,478 | $5,066 | $4,555 | $4,191 | $4,214 | 49th |
| Education | $2,534 | $2,501 | $3,482 | $2,494 | $2,373 | $2,253 | 20th |
| Health and human services | $835 | $681 | $525 | $631 | $865 | $473 | 11th |
| Public safety | $409 | $578 | $548 | $545 | $429 | $667 | 88th |
| Judicial administration | $145 | $178 | $114 | $215 | $128 | $107 | 23rd |
| Public works | $110 | $216 | $142 | $314 | $170 | $166 | 77th |
| General administration | $98 | $162 | $158 | $236 | $134 | $183 | 85th |
| Parks, recreation, culture | $26 | $47 | $38 | $63 | $26 | $58 | 85th |
| Community development | $21 | $115 | $58 | $57 | $66 | $88 | 90th |
Public safety shows the biggest dollar gap below the median, $409 per person against $667, and all four neighbors are below the median too. Of Lee’s $8.8 million, 57% went to correction and detention. Sheriff’s law enforcement came to $124 per person against a median of $237, and fire and rescue to $32 against $207, which ranked 89th.
Health and human services is the opposite case. Income support and social services alone came to $604 per person, third-highest of the 90. By the report’s schedule, state aid covered 49% of the function’s $18.1 million and federal pass-through money another 33%.
Schools take the largest share, about $54.8 million, and state aid equaled 75% of it, with federal pass-through money equal to another 13%. Dividing that education line by the 2,623 average daily membership listed in the report gives about $20,871 per student, the highest of the five counties and 22nd of 90. Wise came to $16,174 and the median was $18,703. That is the Register’s calculation, not the state’s official per-pupil figure.
Why the comparison starts in 2023
The auditor’s original comparative reports for fiscal 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 left Lee out because the county had not filed its required reporting. State law sets a Dec. 15 deadline, according to the auditor’s report page. Lee’s fiscal 2023 figures were added in the Oct. 16, 2025 amendment, which is why this story compares 2025 with 2023.
Fiscal 2024 cannot be compared yet. An April 16, 2026 update says Lee has since filed that year’s data, but the data file on that page still shows no figures for Lee, and the Register found no newer edition on the auditor’s site as of Oct. 31.
In a Jan. 29, 2026 email to the auditor’s office, Rob Wright, who signed as county administrator, wrote, “Our audits have been delayed for several years.” He said the fiscal 2025 audit was not expected until September 2026 and that the county had hired Robinson, Farmer, Cox to finish it. The Register has not reviewed the audited statements themselves, only the figures the auditor published from them.
