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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, March 17, 2005
| Contact: |
Don
Krupp, Chief Administrative Officer, 360-786-5440 |
|
John Tennis,
Public Information Manager, 360-709-3073 |
County
Undertakes “Priorities of Government” Study
OLYMPIA
-- What
programs and services of
Thurston
County
government do residents find most valuable?
What trade-offs would citizens make to ensure there is enough funding
for those valuable programs in years to come?
Thurston County Commissioners hope to find answers to those questions
and more through the “Citizen’s Priorities for Thurston County
Government” study which is just getting underway.
The study is being done along with
Washington
State
University
’s (WSU) Social and
Economic
Sciences
Research
Center
here in
Olympia
. The idea is to reach out to
county residents explaining the functions of county government and to seek
their input regarding service decisions for 2006 and beyond.
County administrator Don Krupp says some important decisions will have
to be made in years to come and commissioners want to poll the citizenry.
“As most folks know by now, we are in a situation where demand for
services and inflation will outpace county revenue growth.
That means some critical decisions about what remains status quo and
what might be changed. We are not
in dire straits right now and we don’t have plans for any major layoffs, but
we have to examine every aspect of county government closely.
That means we need as much information as possible and that is why we
have joined with WSU for this study.”
A citizen’s advisory committee
was recently formed to assist with the outreach and a media advisory committee
has also been formed. Members of
the Citizen’s Advisory Committee include-Dick
Thompson, Judy Wilson, Linda Buckner, Dan Silver, Linda Hoffman, Wayne
Beckwith and Corinne Newman.
“These groups will help us reach more county residents and will also
help ensure the study is objective in nature.”
The timeline calls for educational
materials to be developed first and then sent to about 2,400 county residents.
Then, in April, WSU will contact 600 of those folks to do a detailed
survey. After that, community
forums will be held to discuss the survey results and to gain more input.
The hope is to have a final report by August or so, to assist in
designing the 2006 budget.
“This is an ambitious project
with a fast timeline,” says Krupp, “but we do need some guidance regarding
the present and future of county government.
If anyone has questions about the study, they can find out more by
visiting the
Thurston
County
web site at www.co.thurston.wa.us.”
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