Reminds me of a passage from my favorite Discworld book, Night Watch.
“I didn’t think you was stupid, Mister Vimes…”
“What?” said Vimes, looking down suddenly. Carcer was smiling cheerfully.
“I said I didn’t think you was stupid, Mister Vimes. I know a clever copper like you’d think I’d got two knives.”
“Yeah, right,” said Vimes. He could feel his hair trying to stand on end. Little blue caterpillars of light were crackling over the ironwork of the dome, and even over his armour.
“Mister Vimes?”
“What?” Vimes snapped. Smoke was rising from the weathercock’s bearings.
“I got three knives, Mister Vimes,” said Carcer, bringing his arm up.
The lightning struck.
It’s a little complicated, because the school district gets its own budget even though the town and the school district have the same boundaries, and school and town taxes are billed and payed together.
School: $51M Town: $19.2M Police expenses: $3.5M
So 18% of municipal expenses, or 5% of municipal + school.
Interestingly, only 3/4 of the municipal income comes from property tax. The rest comes from licenses, permit fees, service fees, registration fees for rec council programs, and even the concession stand revenue at the municipal ice rink.