The Performance Institute
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N E W S R E L E A S E

SAN DIEGO – The Performance Institute today recognized four local governments for innovative management practices that have led to increased transparency, accountability and program performance.

“City and county governments have come up with creative and efficient solutions to their budget shortfalls and they deserve to be commended,” said Carl DeMaio, President of The Performance Institute, today at the 2004 City and County Innovations Summit. “More importantly, those solutions need to be shared with managers in other municipalities so they can be adapted and applied.”

The City and County Performance Management Awards program recognized achievements made between April 2001 and April 2004. Nominations were submitted to the Performance Institute from city and county governments of all sizes and from across the country.

The awards, and their winners, are:

Innovations in Public-Private Partnerships (San Diego County, California)
The Innovations in Public-Private Partnerships Award recognizes a local government that has initiated an innovative public-private partnership that has reduced costs and increased service delivery to citizens.

San Diego County's CalWORKS and the Child Assessment Network North (CANN) programs were honored for their approach to performance-based contracting, in which community-based providers are paid based on performance. This approach helps get the best results for the least amount of taxpayer dollars.

CalWORKS provides case management services to help adults leave welfare and get jobs. San Diego County’s unique model, established in 2000, brings nonprofit and for-profit agencies together to provide employment services in four of six regions in the county, and the County provides services to the remaining two regions. This allows best practices and outcomes to be shared and compared.

CANN was established in 2003 to help place foster children from San Diego’s North County in foster homes in their neighborhoods, to minimize the trauma of separation from their families. Community based providers ensure that children are placed in the most suitable homes. CANN also encourages residents to step forward as foster parents by offering incentives for keeping foster children in North County and in a stable home as long as possible.

Transparent Budget (Hamilton County, Ohio)
The Transparent Budget Award recognizes municipalities that have integrated performance data into budgets and increased the overall transparency for cost of government service.

Hamilton County was selected because its:
• Budget is organized by program activity with performance data integrated throughout
• Activity-based costing system benefits the public through a clear identification of the costs of government services
• Performance measures (included by programs) include: an objective; demand (i.e. potential workload); workload (i.e. work actually completed); an efficiency/cost measure; and an effectiveness/outcome measure
• Budget provides information on the impact of budget cuts
• Program measures are linked to department-wide and County-wide goals and mission
• Hiring requests require the department to present measures that justify it
• Departments must assess how resource allocations affect service delivery

Overall Performance Management (Fairfax County, Virginia, and Miami-Dade County, Florida)
The Performance Management Award recognizes outstanding contributions in performance-based management in the five core function areas: strategic planning, budgeting, human resources management, information technology and procurement/contracting.

Fairfax County was selected because its system for strategic planning and budgeting:
• Enables funding of priorities that directly support agency strategic goals and the County’s “Vision” elements
• Clearly articulates funding decisions to County citizens
• Creates measures of County-wide success in meeting the County’s “Vision” Elements
• Improves tracking of agency progress toward desired outcomes
• Identifies common goals that cut across agencies
• Benchmarks the County’s performance in key areas to other jurisdictions
• Presents budget information in a more user-friendly format, which improves readability

Miami-Dade County was selected because its development of county-wide goals and measures displayed the following characteristics:
• County-wide priorities and mission statement is based on focus groups and workshops.
• Annual agency business plans are aligned to city-wide strategic goals and measures.
• Its budget is linked to priorities and results.
• Several methodologies are used to measure and analyze performance, including community surveys, “secret shopper” programs, and a 311 answer center.
• The County is employing strategies to ensure accountability and transparency to public, including quarterly reporting and management performance appraisals.
• The County Manager has endorsed an overall change in organizational culture.

The Performance Institute is a private, nonpartisan think tank improving government results through the principles of performance, competition, transparency, and accountability. The Institute serves as the nation’s leading authority and repository for on performance-based management practices for government agencies. Our mission is to identify, study and disseminate the leading management innovations pioneered by ‘best-in-class’ public-sector organizations.

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