The Office of Local Government within the State Comptroller's Office has developed a 36 page manual on Redistricting. The 2011 Guide to Local Redistricting in Tennessee is availablehere. The manual outlines both legal and administrative requirements for completing this process, discussing the impact of the constitution and state and federal laws on redistrcting as well as the requirements for the proper use of census data.
At our County Government Day event earlier this month, Tom Fleming, the Director of the Office of Local Government, spoke and ran through a quick reference guide to the process. That document, which was distributed at the meeting, is included as an appendix to this larger manual along with a glossary of important terms. Additional training on the subject will be available to county officials at the TCSA Post-Legislative Conference in Gatlinburg June 7 and 8.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
County Government Day
Thanks to everyone for coming to the county government day event this week. The turnout was amazing and you really helped to make the event a success. The general session breakfast featured an excellent slate of speakers, including Governor Bill Haslam, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey, Speaker of the House Beth Harwell, and we were also honored and pleased to hear from U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander who became available as a last minute addition.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The State of Tennessee's Bridges
A new report by the group Transportation for America highlights the problems in our country with our aging infrastructure. Their main website: http://t4america.org/ has a report on the state of bridges in our nation. The site includes an interactive map that allows you to get information about where you live, or see info on a state by state basis. Tennessee performs better than most other states, but still has a significant number of structurally deficient bridges. A report specific to Tennessee can be found here. It includes a ranking of the 95 counties based on the percentage of their bridges that are deficient. The data is based on a required federal bridge survey of all structures greater than 20 feet. Therefore, there are a significant number of locally maintained structures that are too small to be included in this study. For this reason, it will not give you a complete picture of the needs of your transportation system, but still can show you where your county ranks generally.
Out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Tennessee ranks 44th in terms of deficiency. This is one report where it is good to be in the 40's as the report orders the states with number 1 being the most deficient and number 51 being in the best condition. Although Tennessee generally looks good compared to the rest of the nation there is still tremendous concern for an increasing backlog of repairs which are building up faster than funding is available to address the needs. Nationwide, Federal estimates indicate that the United States needs approximately $71 Billion to eliminate the backlog of needed repairs while on an annual basis, only $5.2 Billion has been allocated for bridge repair funding. As the years go by, more and more bridges are aging beyond their designed use and the problem is only expected to grow.
Out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Tennessee ranks 44th in terms of deficiency. This is one report where it is good to be in the 40's as the report orders the states with number 1 being the most deficient and number 51 being in the best condition. Although Tennessee generally looks good compared to the rest of the nation there is still tremendous concern for an increasing backlog of repairs which are building up faster than funding is available to address the needs. Nationwide, Federal estimates indicate that the United States needs approximately $71 Billion to eliminate the backlog of needed repairs while on an annual basis, only $5.2 Billion has been allocated for bridge repair funding. As the years go by, more and more bridges are aging beyond their designed use and the problem is only expected to grow.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
County Health Rankings
A national report issued this week ranks all counties in the county for health issues. This is a joint project of the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. At www.countyhealthrankings.org you can find detailed information arranged state by state and county by county on a variety of heatlh related issues. By clicking on an individual county, you can then see how that community scored on a number of factors.
There are two primary categories: Health Factors and Health Outcomes. A number of different individual health factors shape a community’s health outcomes. The County Health Rankings model includes four types of health factors: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic, and the physical environment. The site then compares two types of health outcomes to represent how healthy each county is: how long people live (mortality) and how healthy people feel (morbidity).
There are two primary categories: Health Factors and Health Outcomes. A number of different individual health factors shape a community’s health outcomes. The County Health Rankings model includes four types of health factors: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic, and the physical environment. The site then compares two types of health outcomes to represent how healthy each county is: how long people live (mortality) and how healthy people feel (morbidity).
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tennessee 2010 Census Data
Governor Haslam's Budget Available on the Internet
UPDATED
The entire budget document is available on the Internet as well as video of the speech, the text of the speech, a fact sheet and a 30 slide overview presentation which was used to present the budget to the Senate and House finance committees.
These can all be accessed through http://tn.gov/stateofthestate/media/
The entire budget document is available on the Internet as well as video of the speech, the text of the speech, a fact sheet and a 30 slide overview presentation which was used to present the budget to the Senate and House finance committees.
These can all be accessed through http://tn.gov/stateofthestate/media/
Monday, March 7, 2011
U.S. County Population Estimates
The Census Bureau today released a downloadable file with county population estimates from April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2010. These estimates are neither 2010 Census counts nor are they based on the 2010 Census. Once official 2010 Census counts have been released for counties in all states, the Census Bureau will release a comparison of April 1, 2010, census counts and April 1, 2010 population estimates.
The data can be accessed here.
The data can be accessed here.
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