HOW DO THE LARGEST NEW YORK STATE COUNTIES AND CITIES PERFORM?
The Maxwell School Government Performance Project in 2002 rated 40 counties in the United States in five management areas. Five of the counties were in New York State. At the top end, the Project overall rated Erie and Westchester Counties C+, which is a failing grade in graduate school. At the low end, Nassau County rated the lowest, at D-, which is the next grade up from failure even for undergraduates. Since the data were collected in 2001 and Nassau has undergone some reforms, an update might carry Nassau County out of the cellar. Two years before, the Project rated 35 cities, included two cities in NY State New York City and Buffalo. The city ratings were published in 2000, based on data collected in 1999, when Rudy Giuliani was New York City’s mayor. Combining the New York State county and city numbers together in a single table – not something we asked the Project permission to do – New York City outperformed all of the NY counties in every area with only three exceptions. Westc
