GRASSROOTS GOVERNMENT IN COLORADO

Policy Brief No. Comparative Counties Study * 2014-03-20 15:59:37

By Centennial Institute Staff

Abstract: Editor: Following upon widespread discontent among rural Coloradans in 2013, leading to talk of secession and heightened interest in political decentralization, Weld County's board of commissioners engaged a Centennial Institute research team to compile and analyze comparative data on Weld's governance and public administration, economic and fiscal condition, and citizen attitudes, relative to those in five other Colorado counties similarly situated: Larimer, Boulder, El Paso, Pueblo, and Mesa. Findings and recommendations are spelled out in this 100-page study. Our charge was to give Weld commissioners an assessment of how well they are performing, why performance is good or not, what steps they might take to improve where needed, and whether their model may be transferable to other counties. The research team concluded that Weld County's performance of its governmental mission compares very favorably with peer counties on most objective measurements, and that Weld residents subjectively register more satisfaction with life in the county than Coloradans in other locales. As for transferability, the team judged the Weld model as one that "local governments everywhere would do well to replicate."