Countywide : Farming Out Research Will Save $400,000

The county will save more than $400,000 a year on demographic research costs under a plan approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

The county’s Forecast and Analysis Center will no longer be responsible for collecting and analyzing population, housing and economic data. Instead, Cal State Fullerton will provide the service at a reduced cost.

The county assumed the cost of collecting the demographic data even though the information also was used by the private sector and other government entities, including the Orange County Transportation Authority and Transportation Corridor Agencies. Such research cost the county about $800,000 last year.

Under the new system, cities, special districts and the United Way of Orange County will all contribute to data collection costs, which will total about $320,000.

Cal State Fullerton will examine a wide variety of data now analyzed by county officials including housing starts, employment projections and tax collections.