Welcome to Skagit County

February 22nd, 2006

WSU REPORTS RESULTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT SURVEY FOR SKAGIT COUNTY GOVERNMENT
View the Survey here

SKAGIT COUNTY - Last fall, Washington State University's Division of Governmental Studies and Services conducted an Organizational Assessment Survey for Skagit County Government. Professor Nicholas P. Lorvich, Jr. and a group of graduate students reported the findings last Friday at an all-day retreat in La Conner. Skagit County elected officials, department heads, and union leaders met to digest the information. Complete results are available online at www.skagitcounty.net

The survey was divided into two parts; a citizen survey mailed to 3,000 registered voters and an employee survey mailed to all Skagit County employees. The citizen survey was mailed to a random selection of 3,000 registered voters provided by the Skagit County Auditor. "We think this survey will provide a good source of information on how citizens and employees of Skagit County view our budget priorities and policy issues," said Skagit County Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt.

In addition to the mailed survey to citizens, bi-lingual, bi-cultural survey team members conducted surveys in Skagit County's Latino community to seek out individuals who may not have been reachable by a mailed survey.

Citizens ranked County employee performance generally good. Compared to federal and state government employees, County employees rated higher, but lower than public school teachers and fire fighters.

Skagit County Government received higher marks in the Latino community than the general mailed sample. Latinos gave the County good marks for overall direction, good value for tax dollars, outreach and welcoming citizen involvement. Although for overall impression of quality of service, they rated Skagit County lower than the mail survey.

For budgetary items, there were areas where citizens and County employees differed. In regard to general administration costs, 51 percent of citizens felt that costs could be cut, compared to only 36 percent from employees.

Skagit County employees were positive about training and career opportunities and employee involvement, but felt that Skagit County fell below the norm for work environment. "There is a significant amount of valuable information in these survey results," said Skagit County Administrator Gary Rowe. "This is just the start of the process of improving Skagit County Government by listening to citizens, employees and our union members."

For further information, contact: Dan Berentson at 360-419-3461