New England States Performance Management Project

New England States Region Performance Measurement Project
Request for Grant Funding through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
As prepared October 15, 2005

The Grantee

The New England States Governmental Finance Offices Association (NESGFOA) is initiating the proposed "New England States Performance Measurement Project" (NESPMP). The NESGFOA is a regional professional association of government finance managers from the six New England States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The NESGFOA serves more than 1500 elected and appointed state and local government officials who are involved in the financial planning for municipal government entities of all sizes. The objectives and purpose of the NESGFOA are as follows:

• To cooperate with the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada, and similar organizations, in order to promote and encourage a closer relationship among those engaged in finance in the municipal, state and federal service;
• To develop a closer relationship and understanding among public officials whose responsibilities and duties involve state and municipal problems; and to facilitate discussion, analysis and solutions of such problems under the laws existing in the New England States;
• To promote continuing educational programs for public finance officials and employees;
• To develop and promote general principles of economy and efficiency in federal, state and municipal government administration;
• To promote and secure uniformity, integrity and improvement in state and municipal budgeting, accounting and reporting, and;
• Lastly, to enhance professional standards for accounting, budgeting, planning and financial reporting by municipal, state and federal government units.

Vision of the Final Project

 The performance measurement process, including that of making municipal government more responsive to its citizens, is embodied within all of the objectives of the NESGFOA professional association. Hence we recently formed the New England States Performance Measurement Task Force, being led by Lisa R. Parker, CPA, Finance Director for the City of Saco, Maine. The City of Saco, Maine was successful at obtaining a grant from the National Center for Civic Innovation in order to produce its first performance measurement report in 2005. This report was prepared under the suggested Governmental Accounting Standard Board's (GASB) criteria and received a National Certificate of Excellence in Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting through the Association of Governmental Accountants (AGA) also known as Advancing Government Accounting.

The remaining task force members will be comprised of two municipal government representatives from each of the communities within the six New England States interested in instituting performance measurements within their own communities, as well as other professionals and interested consultants well -versed in the performance measurement process. The task force will meet initially in order to establish meaningful performance measures for a select group of municipal departments and to produce guidelines for the accumulation of data to appropriately address those measures. The state representatives will then be responsible for reporting back to the communities in each state that are to be part of this project through their respective state Government Finance Officers Associations. The vision is to start small by measuring only a few departments, and then to expand upon this each year until all departments of municipal government have established performance measures and systems to track performance data.

It is anticipated that the Worcester Regional Research Bureau (WRRB) under the direction of Dr. Roberta Rubel Schaefer will serve as the central location for data that is accumulated from the various communities who participate, as well as serve to review and analyze the data to assure consistency in reporting from one community to another. The WRRB would then prepare a synthesized report of the comparable data in order to facilitate the decision-making processes of management across the six New England States. The WRRB is currently being funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the City of Worcester, Massachusetts Performance Measurement Project.

The ultimate goal of this project is to further efforts to make government more responsive to its citizens. It is believed that as municipal finance officials, for the most part we do a good job of financial accountability through the preparation of annual audited financial statements. What we are lacking is providing a data -driven assessment of operational accountability, which would disclose if services are being provided in the most efficient and effective way possible as compared to similar communities. This regional project would hopefully encourage the widespread adoption of measures of municipal government performance that objectively measure outcomes that matter to the ordinary people within our respective communities throughout the New England States.

It is recognized that citizen feedback would be crucial to this process and the task force will need to decide how to facilitate this: whether though their involvement on the actual task force, and/or through citizen -based focus groups within each of the communities involved, and/or through structured consistent surveys to be conducted within the various communities who participate in this project. Our approach, regardless of what it might end up being, will emphasize public involvement to assure that what is measured and reported is what matters to citizens and that the data is not corrupted by the natural tendency of government professionals to report favorable outcomes. Utilizing the Worcester Regional Research Bureau to assemble, review and report on the actual data will also provide merit and credibility to this process.

The task force will also be charged with an annual review of whether measures are meaningful, such that they are being used by municipal managers in making objective decisions in operations and through the actual budget process. Analysis will also take place to determine if the measures are accurately reporting what matters most to citizens in the regional area. If they are not, then refinement of the measures will be necessary region-wide. The last integral task will be to establish a web site for dissemination of this data region-wide and to promote this site such that citizens throughout the area frequently visit to receive performance data on their respective communities.

Initial Feasibility Study

Conceptually, the ultimate vision of the final project appears to be complete. It also proves the old adage that, "One should begin with the end in mind." However, after two task force meetings and a few other meetings between Lisa Parker and Dr. Schaefer, several more detailed issues have surfaced and disclosed potential obstacles for our performance measurement project aimed at removing boundaries between six states. Some of these obstacles include but are not limited to the following:

• Consistent involvement between state representatives with meeting locations as convenient as possible for all ? Can we overcome the distance obstacle ?
• Creating meaningful comparability for all communities involved by assuring that the data is from communities of all sizes? Should we limit the communities who can participate based upon their populations?
• Agreeing on measures to be utilized and those areas (departments or programs) to begin measuring ? How to make the measures meaningful for all involved in the project?
• Agreeing on the data accumulation process so that the costs do not outweigh the benefits of this project in order to keep all interested and involved in the project . How do we compromise accordingly so that all have value and merit from the process?
• How to formulate a consistent citizen outreach effort across six different states and many communities ? What technique will be the most effective? (telephone surveys, citizen focus groups etc)
• How to integrate the sharing of data with citizens in six states with their respective governments through the usage of their own individual web sites or a shared site for just this project ? What digital means will be most effective and cost effective to promote for the various communities?

Based on these issues, it has been determined that a feasibility study should be conducted first in order to review other projects across the country that have been successfully completed and that may have answers on how to overcome these perceived obstacles. We will consider this feasibility study to be phase 1 of this extensive project and will look at it as a "Fact Finding Mission." Phase 1 would be a critical mission, assessing if we can complete the ultimate vision of this project to successfully integrate performance measurements across the six New England States and if so, the process necessary to implement this vision.

Grant Funding Request

This Phase 1 grant request is for funding to travel to and study four existing successful performance measurement initiatives: Kansas City Greater Metropolitan Area Benchmarking Study, South Carolina Benchmarking Project, North Carolina Benchmarking Project and the Fund for the City of New York. After reviewing and discussing procedures and processes with all those professionals involved in the above named projects, a report will be prepared addressing the potential obstacles identified and how the NESPMP will plan for overcoming them. This report will also more clearly detail steps, procedures and a timetable for the ultimate completion of the vision of the final project.

The assembled team to travel, discuss the initiatives mentioned above, and prepare the final feasibility study report includes the following professionals: Lisa R. Parker, Finance Director, City of Saco, Maine, Stephanie Weaver, City of Saco, Maine, Dr. Roberta Schaefer, Executive Director, Worcester Regional Research Bureau, Kimberly A. Hood, MPA, Worcester Regional Research Bureau, Barbara Cohn, National Center for Civic Innovation, Fund for the City of New York, and one other representative from the other five New England States.

The total amount of grant funds being requested for this initial phase of the project is $35,000 and the budget has been outlined below:

TOTAL GRANT REQUEST- PHASE 1 ... $ 35,000

An additional funding request for "Phase 2" of this project will be submitted to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation upon completion of the initial feasibility study.

Conclusion

In conclusion, on behalf of the New England States Governmental Finance Officers Association, I thank you for taking the time to consider this grant request. As the champion of this project, I am very excited by the opportunity afforded by these grant funds to enhance our ability to assure that the ultimate vision of this performance measurement project is achieved in the most effective and efficient manner. I am an avid believer that "Failing to plan, is planning to fail." Our project, if successful, will also serve as a model for many other regions across the country, demonstrating that citizens can be involved in many aspects of government performance assessment and that the results are different and more useful when they are.

Sincerely,

Lisa R. Parker, CPA
Finance Director, City of Saco, Maine