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Weekly UpdatesCitizens continue to expect more public services with the same, if not fewer resources, so public sector professionals increasingly are managing for results and greater efficiency. This means they are looking more comprehensively at policy and operations issues, including clarifying overall service responsibilities, constituting programs and operations involved in carrying out responsibilities, and analyzing and redesigning business processes. These tasks affect, and are affected by, budgets.
For most of my 15 years in the city of Detroit's budget department, I have worked to integrate policy and operations considerations into Detroit's resource planning processes. Detroit's Charter establishes separate budget and finance departments, with a "management audit" function in the budget department to analyze and evaluate operations of all city agencies. Starting my career in the midst one of the city's periodic fiscal crises, I wondered how to prevent downturns, and how the service record could be improved even when times were good, so I took an educational leave to complete a doctorate in policy analysis so that I could perform this function. (1)
Today, public sector budgets must integrate service delivery analysis, and budget decisions hinge on the ability to sort through increased, often competing, information from stakeholders. Activities that tie results management to budgets include: strategic planning, policy design, organizational assessments, program design and evaluation, business process improvement and reengineering, performance measurement, and reporting. Some jurisdictions house these analytical functions in independent agencies, while most appear to accomplish them ad hoc--such as through consulting contracts, or in operating agency units--if at all. (2)
THE POLICY ANALYST'S TOOLBOX
A policy analyst is trained in a variety of methods to gather, synthesize, and communicate evidence--a skill set that supports these growing requirements well. In an old-style bureaucracy like the city of Detroit, these skills are often misunderstood. Research can be applied rather than theoretical, and every area of government can benefit from the independent and specialized thinking a policy analyst brings. There have been five ways that my training as a policy analyst supports the city of Detroit's resource planning activities.
I. Setting up Planning Processes
A policy analyst is a voice for planning, with the ability to structure a standard process for those decisions that need to occur on a regular basis or in coordination with numerous individuals/departments. The steps that need to be reflected at some point in the process are:
* Assessment of current conditions, assets, and operating constraints
* Development of priority-setting methods, guiding principles and criteria for success, including target benchmarks or measures of success
* Gathering information projecting different asset or operational scenarios
* Articulating a formal official decision: clearly stated, with all its implications, and broadly communicated under the decision maker's authority
* Providing feedback mechanisms to translate activities into improved future decisions
Example: Service Cost Projections
The cyclical nature of Detroit's finances can be aided strongly by strategic planning efforts. Several years ago, I developed an environmental scan tool that compiled the constraints, opportunities, and initiatives facing city agencies to help in overall priority setting. Each agency completed a matrix for each of its services projecting the demand, staffing, and equipment needs they would face over a five-year horizon. The agency scans detailed escalating overhead costs relating to technology and professional service specialization, and identified changing service demands.
The budget department began to project its current structural budget problem around this time. Projected General Fund expenditures were 25 percent greater than the $1.4 billion in revenues starting in fiscal year 2002-03. With a planning orientation, my response was to devise baseline assessment components, and to develop a method for setting criteria to sort among some 120 different major programs in 45 operating departments and agencies.
In addition to standard baseline information (trends in expenditures by function and type, revenue histories, and models), unusual city of Detroit services were benchmarked (Exhibit 1). In the 2003 budget year, nearly $200 million in annual operating costs were found for functions typically paid by regional sources rather than through a municipal general fund (e.g., public transportation, convention center, tourist facilities). There were millions more in activities that most local governments do not do (e.g., ombudsman, consumer, and human rights advocacy). This kind of information can provide context to political discussions.
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To develop a criteria-setting method to guide program cuts, I reviewed the reports of special city fiscal committees dating back to 1957, fiscal initiatives of peer cities, and benchmarking studies. (3) Possible budget reforms were sorted into categories: regional approaches; non-profit partnerships; privatization; contracting out or outsourcing of activities; organizational consolidation; and service reduction. After several rounds of discussion, some involving a special committee of major business and institutional leaders, these categories now provide guidance to city efforts. For example, the city recently completed operating agreements with the non-profit societies supporting its Historical Museum, Zoological Institute, and historic Eastern Market, consistent with national trends in local cultural services delivery.
Example: Public Input into Annual Budgets
Another case in which a planning approach was helpful was the implementation of a new city charter requirement mandating public meetings at the start of the annual budget process. In the spirit of citizen input, the meetings were integrated into a larger citizen survey process to plan budget priorities. The survey asks citizens (1) to rank overall city functions, (2) to allocate in each major department $10 among services, (3) to allocate a budget across city departments, and (4) to provide substantive comments about neighborhood services.
As an open meeting, the sample will not be based on the kind of random representative participation that permits conclusive findings about the citizenry as a whole. So to give insight into different constituent group opinions, the sample is stratified. The meetings involve electronic tabulation of citizen responses. Staff members also administer the survey in high school classes, make an online form available on the city Web site, and send a prepaid return mailer to 3,800 known community organizations. This survey process occurs every fall from September 1 through November 1 (before agency budget requests are due). (4)
Other examples of a planning orientation include: developing a fleet planning process to support creation of an internal service fund and creating an agency risk management assessment to support risk management controls. The perspective of the policy analyst led to clarity of decision-making roles, reporting requirements, and hearing processes.
2. Knowing Which Study Tool to Use for Given Problems
The key to getting answers is asking the right question. This is the heart of any research method, and an overriding challenge to all political personnel.
Example: Illegal Dumping Enforcement
Struggling with an immense illegal dumping problem, the city of Detroit rolled out an initiative decriminalizing violations so that costs could be assessed rather than an overburdened criminal system dispensing suspended sentences. Civil proceedings were thought to provide a more effective deterrent, and illegal dumping was the first area adjudicated by a newly created "Blight Court" in 2004. With municipal control of the court, 100 percent of fines revenues could be appropriated. The numbers caught everyone's attention, executive and legislative, and the program was expanded to include property maintenance and zoning abuses even before processes were fully rolled out.
In order to inform decisions about expanding this initiative, a program evaluation was needed to test the efficacy of the underlying theory. Would this type of ticket impact violator behavior more than criminal charges, or would violators be more likely to escape penalty either because they had no money or assets to attach, or because addresses of record were wrong? An evaluation measures impacts of program inputs and outputs rather than simply observing staff efforts, so focus groups of citizens and violators, as well as windshield surveys of target neighborhood areas augmented courtroom observation and audits of inspectors' case processing.
Without understanding the profile of violators--the reasons they commit different offenses, what it would take to stop committing them--it was not clear what types of offenses could be better controlled or what cost benefits will ultimately be produced in the enforcement process. As a high-profile initiative, implementing agencies to-date have been reluctant to participate in an evaluation, fearing excess scrutiny or--maybe worse--having to adapt to further sweeping changes in standard operating procedures.
Example: City Employee Travel Auditing
In another situation, officials sought a travel agent for better control as well as expedience in city employee travel. The policy analyst audited existing travel approval forms to measure current operations, so that implementation could address underlying issues: the number of days for each step of the travel approval process; the incidence of proper expense reconciliation; and average costs per ticket by destinations. The audit revealed the need to redesign approval processes and clarify travel policies. It also supplied information helpful in negotiating carrier deals.
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