The initial deadline for the survey was April 15, but because we have had such a healthy response rate it was decided to continue for a few more weeks to add to those already received. A second round of surveys were mailed to those that have not yet responded on April 22nd. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

The Survey of Local Government Services lists 126 services commonly provided by county government in Michigan and 116 services common to cities, villages, and townships in Michigan. These services are grouped by subject area. The surveys ask if the services are provided to your residents, and if so, whether any form of cooperation, interlocal agreements, or contracting is used in that provision. For purpose of this survey, we're interested in who actually provides services funded with public (tax) funding.

The survey of local government services actually consists of two questionnaires. The services provided by counties are sufficiently different from those provided by cities, villages, and townships that we felt it necessary to use separate lists of services. To proceed, identify whether you are responding on behalf of a county or a city, village, or township:

 

COUNTY GOVERNMENT		CITY, VILLAGE, OR TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT

Every county, cities, village, and township in 24 counties are asked to respond to this survey. Surveys were mailed to each of these units in our survey counties on March 1, 2005. These units are encouraged to complete the surveys online to save with mailing costs and data entry. Because the web survey is an open document, local governmental units in the other 59 counties may use this online tool to include themselves in the survey. Results of the survey will be shared with all participants.

It is hoped that the end product is a catalog of local government services that can be sorted by county, by type of governmental unit, and by population group. We envision this catalog providing a tool for state policymakers to better understand the roles of local governments and the implications of changes to the financial laws affecting local governments. We think the catalog will be a useful tool for local government policymakers to benchmark their services against others of similar size and in neighboring areas. We also think the catalog will be a useful means of identifying current trends in intergovernmental cooperation and potential opportunities for future intergovernmental cooperation arrangements.

The Citizens Research Council of Michigan is a private, not-for-profit public affairs research organization established in 1916 to provide nonpartisan analysis of state and local government organization and finance in Michigan.