INTRODUCTION

    County governments implement policies and structure the delivery of services in ways that are specific to the needs and wishes of their residents. If citizens of a particular county demand a high degree of law enforcement or recreational services, the county government is obliged to fund these services at an enhanced level. Policies are developed toward this end and the organization of the government will reflect these priorities in structural and budgetary decisions. The objectives of the county--both stated and unstated--are reflected in these decisions. To determine the degree to which the objectives are being met, one must examine organizations with similar attributes to compare likenesses and differences. This is the purpose of this report - to survey the budgets of Michigan counties and determine which departments receive more resources and which departments receive fewer resources in relation to their counterparts in other counties.

    The primary source of information for this report is a study conducted by another county. Saginaw County recently released the 1997 edition of a bi-annual report entitled, "A Study of Urban Michigan Counties." Mr. Daniel Skiver, a management intern at Saginaw, prepared the report by examining the fifteen mid-sized counties in Michigan with a population between 100,000 and 550,000, including the following counties: Kent, Genesee, Washtenaw, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Ottawa, Muskegon, Berrien, St. Clair, Jackson, Monroe, Calhoun, Livingston, and Bay. The report assumes that counties of similar size are also similar in the needs and preferences of their residents as well as the legal and economic constraints that they face when addressing those needs. Mr. Skiver examined the budgets of the fifteen counties for 1997 and identified the amounts budgeted for specific programs. He then determined how much each county allocates for particular programs as well as the number of employees - each on a per capita basis. This was undoubtedly not a simple endeavor and Mr. Skiver deserves recognition for his efforts.

    This report uses the information supplied in the Saginaw report but adjusts the methodology in order to measure whether Ingham County departments receive appropriations that are similar to other counties of similar size. It identifies the programs in which Ingham County budgets more for particular functions and the programs in which the county allocates fewer resources. It posits reasons why variations exist due to structural differences among the counties and differences which can be attributed to the preferences of the counties.

    Due to the limited amount of information published in the Saginaw report, not all aspects of every county’s budgets are included in this analysis. Only those departments which are common among at least 10 of the 15 counties are included. This excludes some departments such as Medical Care Facility and library expenditures. In fact, only 62 percent of the total Ingham County budget is included. This is done to control for the variance in structures among the counties. However, it has an overall effect of decreasing the relative size of other counties’ budgets, thereby making Ingham’s budget appear somewhat overstated.