Governing for excellence through a budget crisis
“I will inherit a city that is in financial trouble,” Landrieu said. “I think the public is going to be shocked to know the financial situation the city is in” (Greg LaRose, City Business, 4/26/2010).
Councilmember Stacy Head foreshadowed on WIST radio last week that when Mitch Landrieu is sworn in as mayor next week, he’ll have to figure out how to provide services for the remaining three-quarters of the year with only 30 to 35 percent of the year’s budget remaining.
How will Mitch be able to govern a city facing such a budget crisis?
By implementing a citywide NolaStat performance management process to reduce waste, to target spending on high-priority projects identified with community input, and to track city operations.
The CitiStat process implemented by Mayor Martin O’Malley ten years ago accepted Baltimore’s budget challenge as a call to excellence, reducing government waste by $350 million, while improving the quality, efficiency, and equity of city operations.
It’s also worth mentioning that Mitch described the command structure under current Mayor Ray Nagin as “indecipherable.” Regular NolaStat executive sessions that tackle issues in a collaborative manner would marshal agencies to strive for success in high priority initiatives. The process would help identify ways to streamline operations, and to eliminate performance bottlenecks.
