How should Cook County Government measure its performance?

By Sebastian James at May 5, 2011 | 2:24 pm | Print

In the FY 2011 budget, we lay out how much we’re planning to spend and how much of your taxes are needed. To date, Cook County has never been able to tell you the correlation between services you get versus the taxes we collect.

For the first time, the County President will report this summer what the County accomplishes.  The purpose of this performance report is to hold management accountable to providing better services and using your tax money more efficiently.  The County provides services in four key areas, and these will be the focus of the report card.

• Healthcare: The County health system provides an integrated system of healthcare throughout the region.
• Public safety: The courts are the largest unified court system in the country, the jails the largest single site jail, and the State’s Attorney and Public Defender are dedicated to protecting your rights.
• Property services: The Assessor, Board of Review, and other offices both collect property tax and review the use of land.
• Fiscal administration: The President and other offices manage a $3 billion budget, purchase nearly $1 billion in goods and services, and employ 22,000 people.

We’d like to know what YOU think. What should we measure? Please take a few minutes to complete the 4 poll questions below.  Click here to learn more about the idea of measuring government performance.

 

President's Office Cook County Board President, open government, performance management, Toni Preckwinkle, transparency