Examine the report Illinois Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force and evaluate opportunities for efficiencies. Discuss

3-1 Discussion

Andrew Abbondanza posted Apr 7, 2022 9:41 PM

Examine the report Illinois Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force and evaluate opportunities for efficiencies. Discuss the process of the evaluation of the white paper. What examples exist of these types of efficiency efforts in your area government?

The article “The Task Force on Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Makes its Recommendations to the Governor” summarizes that Task Force’s recommendations to the Governor of Illinois. It is written by The Civic Foundation, which “has long supported legislation aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations in Illinois by consolidating or abolishing redundant and/or anachronistic local governments” (The Civic Federation, 2016). This relates to the concept of inter-local shared government. As Holzer and Schwester write, “public demands for doing more with less, promoting public organizations that are efficient, and bolstering citizen trust through improved governmental responsiveness have engendered interest in inter-local shared service agreements” (2019, p. 93). Both abolishing and consolidating through inter-local shared government are ways to increase government efficiency. 

An example of the consolidation of state agencies as suggested by the Task Force in my area government is the recent merger of the Utah Department of Health and the Utah Department of Human Services (Utah Department of Health, 2021). The merger was approved by the state legislature in 2021 and is set to go into effect in July of 2022. The two departments are currently working through their Transition Plan. One of the key aspects of the Transition Plan is “alignment of overlapping and complementary programs and services” (Utah Department of Health, 2021). By doing this, the new Utah Department of Health and Human Services should be able to deliver services more effectively and efficiently. 

References

Holzer, M., & Schwester, R. W. (2019). Public Administration (3rd Edition). Taylor & Francis. 

The Civic Federation. (2016). The Task Force on Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Makes its Recommendations to the Governor. https://www.civicfed.org/civic-federation/blog/task-force-local-government-consolidation-and-unfunded-mandates-makes-its-reco.

Utah Department of Health. (2021). State Releases Transition Plan for the merger of Utah Departments of Health & Human Services by July 1, 2022. https://health.utah.gov/featured-news/state-releases-transition-plan-for-the-merger-of-utah-departments-of-health-human-services-by-july-1-2022.

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Link to the article: https://www.civicfed.org/civic-federation/blog/tas… (if needed)