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How much of each government's agenda goes to a subject, next to the regional average. Counting alone would rank these places by size — Cary puts ten times as many items on its agendas as Pittsboro — so everything here is a share or a rate, and the count it rests on is always beside it.

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Of the agenda items we have been able to classify for this government, what fraction carry the subject. Not of every item — whether an item is classifiable at all depends on the agenda platform, not on the government.

1
governments with any
240
agenda items counted
15.6%
regional average

Every subject, past 12 months

Ranked by share of classified work. The bar shows the value; the line across it is the regional average, where one applies. "Agenda read" is how much of that government's agenda carries any subject at all — a share computed over a tenth of an agenda describes a tenth of an agenda.
Government Subject Share of classified work Items Of classified Agenda read Range Against the region
Town of Knightdale Budget and appropriations 13.6% 20 153 47% 9–19% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Rezoning 11.0% 18 153 47% 8–18% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Parks and recreation 9.9% 15 153 47% 6–16% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Appointments and personnel 9.8% 14 153 47% 6–15% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Contracts and procurement 9.7% 16 153 47% 7–16% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Roads and transportation 8.5% 14 153 47% 6–15% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Annexation 7.9% 13 153 47% 5–14% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Stormwater and flooding 7.8% 14 153 47% 6–15% more than the region
Town of Knightdale Land conversion and large development 7.4% 13 153 47% 5–14% more than the region
Town of Knightdale Subdivision and site plans 6.8% 12 153 47% 5–13% more than the region
Town of Knightdale Bonds and debt 6.7% 12 153 47% 5–13% more than the region
Town of Knightdale Zoning text amendment 6.4% 11 153 47% 4–12% more than the region
Town of Knightdale Public facilities 6.3% 10 153 47% 4–12% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Police and public safety 5.9% 9 153 47% 3–11% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Grants and outside funding 4.7% 7 153 47% 2–9% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Housing and affordability 4.6% 7 153 47% 2–9% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Environment and sustainability 4.6% 7 153 47% 2–9% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Fire and EMS 3.6% 5 153 47% 1–7% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Fees and utility rates 2.8% 5 153 47% 1–7% more than the region
Town of Knightdale Health and human services 2.6% 3 153 47% 1–6% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Intergovernmental agreements 2.3% 3 153 47% 1–6% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Elections and districts 1.9% 3 153 47% 1–6% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Tax rate and revaluation 1.5% 2 153 47% 0–5% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Faith and cultural communities 1.5% 2 153 47% 0–5% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Civil rights and nondiscrimination 1.2% 2 153 47% 0–5% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Schools and education 1.0% 1 153 47% 0–4% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Solid waste and recycling 0.8% 1 153 47% 0–4% within the usual range
Town of Knightdale Broadband and technology 0.6% 1 153 47% 0–4% within the usual range

How to read this

Share is the fraction of a government's classified agenda items carrying the subject — not of every item. That distinction matters more than it sounds. Where a portal publishes a structured item list, that list is the whole agenda, call to order and adjournment included; where it does not, the item list is written out by the summarization worker, which records the substantive business and skips the ceremony. On this site 40% of Cary's items carry a subject against 79% of Apex's, and the difference is the agenda platform, not the town. Dividing by every item made portal governments look half as engaged in everything.

The share is adjusted toward the regional average in proportion to how little evidence stands behind it — a board with four classified items and one rezoning does not get reported as the most development-focused place in the region. The range beside it is a 95% interval on the unadjusted figure.

Against the region says whether that interval clears the regional average. Agenda items are not a random sample of anything, so this is a guard against reading noise as a finding rather than a statistical test. A government with few items will almost always read as within the usual range, because with few items almost nothing can be told apart.

Per 10,000 voters is judged against a per-resident regional rate, not against the share — a small town with a busy agenda can be first per resident and unremarkable as a share, and both are true. The interval there is on the item count rather than a percentage, because once the denominator is a population the items are arrivals and not a proportion. It uses registered voters from the State Board of Elections, summed across counties for a town that straddles a line. Registered voters are not population: they leave out children, non-citizens, and adults who have not registered, and the share who register differs from place to place. It is the denominator this state publishes per municipality and keeps current, which no population estimate does.