What's New

Independent Redistricting in Monroe County: A CGR Experiment

Gerrymandering in Monroe County: How Bad is it?
CGR assumed the role of an independent redistricting commission and created a new map of Monroe County legislative districts based on the 2010 Census population counts. The maps were created with political blinders in place – no data on party enrollment of voters was used. Yet the maps preserved the 16-13 advantage for Republicans by creating 16 Republican-leaning districts. Find out why and browse a scalable map.		Website Final Report

CGR Enhances Web Tool for Tracking Government Spending



Click on the logo to see our web tool that visually shows what individual state and local governments in the U.S. spend and where the money goes, because we have added new features! The latest additions: data for school districts across the U.S.; multi-year data for governments and school districts; ability to compare with others in same county; and streamlined download capability. Govistics is designed for libraries; researchers, faculty and students in higher education; and individuals. Check it out!

CGR Launches Education Notebook — A New Blog

Click on the chalk board to go to the blog.

Shared Services & Municipal Consolidations in Western NY
View a recent presentation that CGR’s Charles Zettek delivered to the Geneva NY League of Women Voters.

Survey Shows Broad Support for Mayoral Control of Rochester Schools
A March 2010 survey conducted by CGR and Metrix Matrix finds broad support for mayoral control of the Rochester NY School District. The survey response rate is 26%, which is considered high for this type of survey. Overall, 62% strongly or somewhat support the approach while 23% somewhat or strongly oppose it. The remainder either have not formed an opinion or do not care about the issue.  Support varies somewhat by race, age and other characteristics, but all groups express support for mayoral control by a substantial margin. Click here for the Press Release. Click here for Survey Data. Click here for Survey Form.

FACTSHEET: County Nursing Homes in NYS Are Approaching a Crossroads
Our comprehensive report on county nursing homes in NYS generates tremendous traffic on our website, month after month. Given the level of interest, we’ve created a new 2-page factsheet that provides highlights.

CGR Releases Analysis of Local Public Employee Labor Contracts
CGR’s summary analysis explores employee health costs, paid time off and other fringe benefits for local government and school employees in Monroe County.  It finds that taxpayers are funding health and paid time off benefits that typically exceed national averages.  In some cases, the disparities are significant. The report was prepared for the Rochester Business Alliance and Unshackle Upstate, and more information is available at: Unshackle Upstate

CGR Names 3 New Board Members
Three new trustees joined the CGR Board of Trustees in May 2009. They are Jennifer Leonard, a recognized expert on charitable giving and the nonprofit sector; Theresa Mazzullo, the executive director of a unique regional economic development partnership funded by NYS through the University of Rochester; and Julio Vázquez Sr., who recently retired as commissioner of community development for the City of Rochester NY.

Rightsizing NY's Budget: Why & How It Can Be Done
NYS government is facing its most significant fiscal crisis in decades. The Empire Center for NYS Policy and CGR brought policymakers and analysts together on Dec. 9, 2008 in Albany to examine ways to bring spending in line with realistic projections of future revenue. Read the summary of conference participants' key messages.

Report Released on Initial 2 Years of Rochester NY Lead Law
CGR study of the first 2 years of Rochester's innovative "Lead Based Paint Poisoning Prevention" law shows nearly 3,440 housing units are being made lead safe. The number of children under age 6 with lead poisoning is also down.

Database Showing Costs of Local Governments in Northeast Ohio Goes Public
Northeast Ohio funders debut a major online database illustrating "what a particular local government is paying for, where it gets its revenues, and how costs compare with selected peer areas," said Charles Zettek Jr., Director of Government Management Services for CGR, which developed the database for Ohio. Counties colored in green are included in the Northeast Ohio region, while those in yellow are part of the Columbus region.  Orange counties are included in the Dayton region. Click here to access the data website