EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Government agencies must continue to examine ways in which the needs and desires of
their constituents can be maximized while under the constraint of limited revenue sources.
This increases the importance of long-term planning and cost analysis. To analyze whether
the funding levels of programs in Ingham County are consistent with the funding levels of
other counties, the budgets of fifteen Michigan counties with populations between 100,000
and 550,000 were examined on a per capita basis. The analysis reveals the following
results:
The majority of the departments in Ingham County are funded at a
similar level to other departments in comparable counties. In aggregate, Ingham’s
budget is slightly higher than other counties on a per capita basis.
As a group, the Human Services liaison committee receives 37 percent
more funds than indicated by state trends while both the Law and Courts and Administrative
Services and Personnel liaison committees are funded at levels very near the state trend.
The Health Department’s budget is 30 percent greater on a per
capita basis than other comparable counties and 45 percent greater in general fund budget
per capita. This reflects both the Commissioners’ stated priorities and the
objectives of the county’s strategic plan.
Five other departments are also funded at a greater per capita rate
than their counterparts in other counties. These include Prosecutor, Animal Control,
Circuit Court, Cooperative Extension, and Drain Commissioner. Each of these departments
can statistically be shown to exceed the per capita state average.
The budgets from the following departments are at least 20 percent
less than the expected per capita state average: Aging, Building & Grounds, Child
Care, Emergency Operations, Community Corrections, District Court, and FIA. Of these, only
the Child Care, FIA, Aging, and Community Corrections budgets can be shown statistically
to be at least 20 percent below the per capita state average.