County Priorities for the Upcoming Year

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County Priorities for theUpcoming Year

• Kevin Neimond
• National Association of Counties (NACo)
• 2005 NSGIC Annual Conference

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Agenda

• What is the biggest issue for county officials?
• How did this happen?
• What are counties doing about it?
• Where does GIS fit in?
• How can states and counties collaborate on GIS
  related initiatives?

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Any Guesses???
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County Revenue Generation
Finding the revenue necessary to support county
services is still the most important problem
facing counties, and most everything else pales
in comparison. --National Center for the Study
of Counties
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What Do County Officials Worry About?
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What are county officials saying?

• "Were trying to figure out how were going to
  manage the growth and provide the infrastructure
  for it. The development, mostly residential
  buildings, requires fire departments, water and
  roads and has taxed the countys resources.

Janet TaylorCommissionerHendry County, Fl
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Where does the revenue come from?

• Property Tax
• Charges and Fees
• Sales Tax
• Interest
• State Aid
• Federal Aid

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What are county officials saying?

• "Our property tax is capped at 1 percent and
  were becoming more and more reliant on our sales
  tax. This sets us up for potential problems."

Christene EndersenCommissionerKitsap County, Wa
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Why the decrease in revenue?
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States Impact on Counties
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Eliminating and Decreasing Services
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Major State Funding Cutbacks
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Major Service Demands
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Why do counties use GIS?

• 1. Financial benefit that translates into an
  increase or sustainability of the level of
  services provided to citizens
• 2. Protection of life and property

Translate these concepts into outreach activities
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Intergovernmental Relations
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Perceived Partnerships
Dear County X, So, you have invested several
million dollars collecting and maintaining
accurate high-resolution geospatial data? Great!
Now how about filling up our hard drives with
your data? Thanks, Your Partner
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Why Dont Counties Share Data?

• Too many requests from potential partners
• Do not have the human resources required to
  implement the technology
• Technical personnel are already consumed
• I already have all the data I need
• Complications related to FOIA
• Political climate

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How Can We Change This?

• Establish and maintain a unified voice and
  message
• Build mission capacity and capability within
  target organizations to increase relevance,
  participation, and sustainability
• Elevate outreach as key priority early in GIT
  program development
• Dedicate human and financial resources for GIT
  outreach
• Nurture champions to provide exposure, feedback
  and guidance
• Leverage existing organizations, channels and
  programs to advance outreach
• Top Down AND Bottom Up approach

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Outreach and Partnership Activities
Putting Outreach Strategies to Work

• No national-level funding strategy for geospatial
  data collection and maintenance, but we are
  moving in the right direction
• 50 States Initiative
• Imagery For the Nation

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Questions / Comments

• Kevin Neimond
• National Association of Counties (NACo)
• 202-942-4247
• kneimond_at_naco.org