Question

Non-Financial Performance Many city and county governments are discovering that you can control only what you measure. As a result, many municipal governments are introducing non-financial performance measures to help improve municipal services. Use the Google search engine to perform a search for “municipal government performance measurement.” Google will provide a list of Internet sites that outline various city efforts in using nonfinancial performance measures. Report on the types of measures used by one of the cities from the search.

No copied answer, please.

Answer 1

Use this activity to compare performance measures from different groups and their selected cities.

The following are examples of performance measures from Worcester, Massachusetts:

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT                                                                                                   

Indicator                                      Outcome Type           Measured As                                           

Growth of commercial and           Performance                Change in total assessed
residential tax base value over time

Job growth   Performance                Jobs created (and lost) by category

Amount of private investment      Performance                Total annual new construction, business

expansion, and R&D investment

PUBLIC SAFETY

Indicator                                      Outcome Type Measured As                                 

All measured both citywide and by

                                                  neighborhood

Level of crime   Performance                Crime rate and clearance rate by type of crime

Police community relations   Performance   Responses to annual citizen survey questions,
performance of personnel on tests of courtesy,
professionalism, and respect

Allegations of police misconduct   Performance                The annual number of complaints of excessive

force received by the police department

Level of fire activity                      Performance # of structure fires; # of fire inspections

  performed;
# of arson cases

Responses to fire calls                   Performance   Number of fire calls answered as a % of total

Calls for service, average response time, % of

responses < 5 minutes

IMPROVED MUNICIPAL SERVICES

Indicator Outcome Type Measured As   

Cleanliness of streets                       Performance Responses to questions on the annual

citizen survey, objective resident ratings

Cleanliness of streets                         Efficiency   Cost per mile of street swept

Snow clearance                                  Performance   Miles of road cleared to pavement within 6

  hours of a snowstorm

Condition of streets and roads          Performance           Responses to questions on the annual

citizen survey, Pavement Condition Index

  (PCI)

Effectiveness of recycling program    Performance          % of trash recycled

Effectiveness of anti-graffiti program Performance         # of graffiti incident responses, response

time from call for service to cleanup

Cost effectiveness of solid                    Efficiency Cost per ton of waste collected waste

collection

Library usage                                Performance Circulation per capita

Citizen involvement                      Performance   % of eligible voters registered;

(citywide and by neighborhood)   % of registered voters voting

EDUCATION

Indicator                                      Outcome Type           Measured As                                           

Student and school achievement Performance                MCAS test scores

Graduation rate                             Performance                Percent graduating

Dropout rate                                  Performance                Percent dropouts

Employer satisfaction

with graduates        Performance   Employer survey

Post-graduate plans                       Performance                Percent of graduates going to college; percent going to work

Parent involvement in schools      Performance                Attendance at parent-teacher conferences;

  survey of  parents, teachers, and principals

IMPROVED YOUTH SERVICES

Indicator                                      Outcome Type   Measured As                                           

Presence of “at risk youth”           Performance Responses to questions from the Youth

  Risk Behavior Survey (includes questions

  on drug and alcohol use and violent

  behavior)
  (by high school)

Extent of juvenile crime                Performance                Juvenile crime rate, citywide and by

  neighborhood

Teen pregnancies                           Performance                Teen pregnancy rate

Infant mortality                             Performance Infant mortality rate

Teen youth services                       Program availability    Number of programs and participation

  rates (by race, ethnicity, and gender) by

  neighborhood