Vol. 44 No. 1 - Jan. 16, 2012

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Featured Articles

Cuts in federal funding threaten public health emergency response

Bay County, Mich.’s health department was able to vaccinate only 10 percent of its population during the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009.

Agriculture Department announces office closures

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a major reorganization that will close 259 domestic offices.

Healthy Counties, awards program highlight NCGM

National politics are sure to dominate the headlines in 2012, but county officials can generate their own positive publicity at home through National County Government Month celebrations in April.

Fleet management upgrade pays off in Wayne County, Mich.

While working to upgrade its fleet management system, Wayne County, Mich. found a way to keep the public informed about road conditions during inclement winter weather.

Articles

Yellow Dot programs help first responders save lives

Yellow dots are showing up in counties nationwide, and first responders couldn’t be happier to see them.

NACo joins in Supreme Court case

NACo joined several of its sister organizations in filing an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could affect state and local governments’ ability to hire affordable, high-quality outside legal counsel.

What County Officials Want to Know ...

Economic and ethical turmoil are giving counties pause to reconsider their use of discretionary funds.

County News Survey … What would you do with a 5% county budget surplus?

If Walter Mitty, literature’s most famous daydreamer, were a county official he may have stepped back from the fray and wondered what he would so with a surprise 5 percent budget surplus. County News wondered too.

Guest Commentary: State forces local taxes higher

VACo Executive Director Jim Campbell examines a tax shift in Virginia.

County officials push Counties Work to the public

With strong participant numbers following the summer 2011 release of the online game “Counties Work,” NACo is hoping to build on that momentum and get the game into classrooms across the country.

What federal budget cuts mean to your county

With the 112th Congress set to convene, deficit reduction will be of primary concern even in the face of a presidential election year.

Photo by Tom Goodman

Deschutes County, Ore. Commission Chair Tammy Baney asks a question during a briefing by White House officials held in conjunction with the annual Washington, D.C. meeting of state associations of counties presidents and executive directors. Baney is Association of Oregon Counties president. The two-day meeting, Jan. 12–13, also featured updates and discussions about federal legislation, and state government budget and reapportionment trends, as well as a talk by Ezra Klein, a Washington Post, Bloomberg and MSNBC contributor and policy analyst. Klein spoke about the intersection of politics and economic policy, and its impact from Wall Street to Main Street.

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