Roe Better Government Network Research

After nearly a decade of evolution, municipal Stat programs, such as NYPD'sCompStat and Baltimore's CitiStat, have proved very successful in improving city service delivery and cutting unnecessary spending. Though slightly different in each implementation, all Stat programs involve frequent meetings at which key decision-makers and department heads review data on operational performance, identify problems and solutions, and track follow-up. The City of Baltimore reported $70 million in savings attributable to CitiStat in its first three years of operations. In Massachusetts, Somerville has run its successful SomerStat initiative for close to three years, and reports $10 million in realized or anticipated savings. Expansion of the Stat program holds tremendous potential for the Commonwealth's cities and towns, as well as state government.

The Repair, Replacement, Renovation and Maintenance (R3M) Program concept is a strategy for managing Hillsborough County's physical assets. The purpose of the R3M Program is to protect investment in infrastructure, reduce the maintenance backlog, control and reduce costs, minimize waste, and to maintain public buildings and facilities in a safe and efficient condition.

The Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability (FERA), based in Albany, New York, has been implementing a school-choice initiative — the Albany Project — that has created high-quality charter schools to serve more than half of the local public school student population in the state's capital city. FERA believes that a district composed of choice schools can better serve students, parents, and the community than the traditional urban school district system. The Albany Project is demonstrating that the charter school model — freedom from state regulations and education bureaucracy, freedom to innovate, and increased accountability—can better serve all students, not just the small segment of the population fortunate enough to win an enrollment lottery or afford a private school.

Iowa's Charter Agencies Initiative, originally developed by the Public Strategies Group, a Minnesota-based government-consulting firm, is one in a series of programs implemented by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to ad-dress the ballooning state budget. The program stresses increased efficiency, reduced costs, and greater freedom for state agencies (and the Governor's office) to offer better value to Iowa's citizens.

Through its pay-for-performance program, the Dallas County (Texas) Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) has set an example for how similar agencies across the country could be reformed. MVD registers 1.9 million vehicles per year and has 140 employees at 10 sites. In March 1998, the Vehicle Registration and Title Department launched its performance pay program. The program utilizes performance measures to identify and reward quality work.

Buildings in Florida's Miami-Dade County typically fill up as quickly as they can be built. Between glimmering high-rise towers for vacationers or retirees, banks and offices that serve as the nerve centers of Miami's south-ward-looking economy, or schools and public buildings to support a growing population, South Florida has the look of a perpetual hard-hat zone. This steady pace of needed construction is maintained by an innovative building department and its Building Permitting Automation Efficiency Program.

Bid-to-Goal is a program originally developed by the City of San Diego's Metropolitan Wastewater Department (MWWD), in conjunction with consulting firm Henningson, Durham and Richardson (HDR), in 1997 as an "optimization strategy" to more cost-effectively implement large public works initiatives. By means of a binding pact between the city and public sector employees, the MWWD had hoped to create a hybrid dynamic that incorporates the most desirable features of both public and private sector contracting.

We propose to close all five Registration and Titling Bureau offices and al-low the RMV to register all motor vehicles—boats, ATVs and snowmobiles included. This consolidation would bring significant savings while actually improving service for off-road vehicle owners.

The Massachusetts Estuaries Project, through the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), supports the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the development and implementation of policies to protect nitrogen-sensitive coastal embayments. The Project collects data and develops models to manage and restore the 89 embayment systems that comprise the coastline of southeastern Massachusetts. The Project encompasses new technologies, regulatory approaches and funding mechanisms to reduce the costs of conducting estuarine restoration.

The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents has implemented numerous reforms that have improved the safety of workplaces throughout the state since Governor Mitt Romney’s election in 2002. In the process, the DIA has reduced the number companies that do not adhere to the state’s worker compensation laws.