N. Va. beats Long Island in study of government

A study comparing taxes and government in Northern Virginia and Long Island delivered a decisive victory to suburban D.C., finding the region has fewer agencies, less spending and greater satisfaction with services and taxes.

New York-based Long Island Index released “A Tale of Two Suburbs” Thursday, a three-part comparison of the two comparably sized areas. It defined Northern Virginia as Fairfax and Loudoun counties and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, and Long Island as Nassau and Suffolk counties. It found Long Island, with twice the population, has 26 times the government bodies and almost twice the per-capita government spending.