RESULTS - HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

     This committee focuses mainly on the traditional "human services" provided by Ingham County including public health, mental health, and services to assist senior citizens, veterans, and the economically disadvantaged in meeting basic needs.   Eleven departments and agencies deliver services to address these issues - seven of which are included in this analysis.

Human Services Committee - All Departments

        As a group, human service departments receive significantly more funds than their counterparts in other counties. Ingham stands out as spending more dollars per resident for these services than the other counties and more general fund dollars as well. This is largely due to the fact that 84 percent of the total budget for this group is attributable to the Health Department which receives significantly more funds in Ingham than in other counties.  When broken down into individual departments, the regressions reveal the following results:

Aging

        Aging - Counties' budgets for aging programs and departments exhibit a peculiar characteristic - budget size tends to diminish as the county’s population increases. Smaller counties tend to have millages to services this population which may or may not support construction of senior centers and other operations costs which are not addressed in Ingham or other larger counties. Also, both Kent and Ingham participate in regional consortia and the budgets of both counties are much lower than expected. This seems to indicate that participation in a regional consortium lowers costs, although further analysis would be required to further support this claim.

M.S.U. Cooperative Extension

        M.S.U. Cooperative Extension - Ingham funds the Cooperative Extension department at a degree which is 27 percent greater than expected. The number of employees is also greater than expected. A portion of this variance can be attributed to two factors. First, Cooperative Extension in 1997 acted as the fiduciary agency for two grants: the Youth Violence Prevention Coalition and the Sycamore Creek Watershed Project. The funds from each of these grants are included in the budget, although they should not be considered a departmental allocation. Other counties might or might not act as fiduciary agents in a similar manner. Second, the County provides operating and facility support for Nutrition Education and Parenting Education programs for which M.S.U. provides staff. This program is larger in Ingham than in other counties. When these factors are considered, the budget falls into the expected range.

Health Department

        Health Department Total Budget - The Board of Commissioners has continued to support public health programs and initiatives to ensure basic health care coverage to many uninsured individuals. Ingham County has been more assertive than other counties in advancing this objective which is not the priority in other counties that it is in Ingham. In addition, the Health Department receives a large portion of funds from grants and inter-governmental transfers. It is second only to Kent County in terms of general fund budget, gross budget and number of employees. It is greater than every other county in terms of budget per resident ($58.16) and general fund budget per resident ($21.25). Another reason for this increase might be the charging of rent (see Buildings & Grounds above).

Health Department General Fund

    Health Department General Fund Budget - The general fund budget is perhaps the best way to measure the county’s priorities. Other counties of similar size do not place the same priority on public health issues. For example, Kalamazoo uses just $1,613,000 from the general fund for public health purposes while Ingham budgets $6,072,000. This could be due in part to a variance in both responsibilities and in optional programs among counties. Some programs which are either unique to Ingham County or not common among all counties include the health centers, a dental clinic, Office for Young Children, Adult Health Services, Solid Waste Management, and Hazardous Waste/ Pollution Prevention. Additionally, there are some services which are operated at a higher level in Ingham County than in most counties. These include community health assessment, communicable disease control and immunization.

Mental Health Services - General Fund Budget

        Mental Health - Only general fund budget amounts are included in this variable. This controls for the funding of state institutions. The regression reveals that general fund expenditures are related to population and that Ingham is within the expected range.

Social Services/ Family Independence Agency

        Social Services/ FIA - Although the result shows that Ingham might under-fund social services, this is largely due to differences in budgeting practices among the counties. Kent and Ottawa budget about five times the amount of other counties from their general fund because their budgets include appropriations to local non-profit organizations. Other counties use different methods to appropriate funds to non-profit organizations. When these two counties are excluded from the analysis, Ingham is within the expected range.

Substance Abuse Services

        Substance Abuse - Ingham is within the expected range, although the R-Squared indicates that budget size is independent of population characteristics.  All of Ingham County's funding for substance abuse services originates from a share of liquor tax receipts.  Other counties may also reserve a portion of their general fund for substance abuse services.

Veteran Affairs

        Veteran Affairs - Ingham’s budget here is larger than expected although the staff size is within the expected range. This is due in part to the nature of the department - reimbursements from Clinton and Eaton Counties are included in the total budget, thereby making Ingham’s allocation seem to be greater than it actually is. Once controlled for, the budget becomes somewhat less than expected.