measures
The annual reports on municipal services
use graphs, summary tables, and explanatory information
to present the performance and cost results for each
service area under study. The results of each service
area by municipality are displayed with a standard,
two-page format. A sample of this two-page format
(page 1 | page
2) has been included for the service of residential
refuse collection. The following information is contained
in each report:
-
Performance Measures. Three types
of performance measures are used and reported: workload,
efficiency, and effectiveness. A jurisdiction's
performance is compared to the performance average,
noting that the average is comprised of services
with numerous variations and should be viewed with
caution. The measures used in this report do not
assess total service performance. They gauge certain
service dimensions and should be approached with
an understanding of the service being provided.
-
Municipal Profile. This includes
a limited number of characteristics of each jurisdiction,
such as population density and unemployment rate,
which may affect service performance and cost. Some
of the general characteristics, such as population,
appear in the city profiles for all of the service
areas. Others, such as the crime rate for serious
offenses, appear in only selected profiles.
-
Full Cost Profile. A cost accounting
model is used to calculate full or total cost of
providing each service area under study. Although
the cost data were collected in detail, using a
collection instrument with more than seventy specific
line items, the reporting format aggregates the
detailed cost data into three general categories
for the purpose of presentation: personal services
for the direct expenses of salaries, wages, and
related fringe benefits; operating costs that include
direct operating expenses and indirect cost allocations;
and capital costs that represent usage charges for
equipment and facilities.
-
Service Profile. This identifies
important dimensions of service organization and
method of delivery.
-
Explanatory Information. This segment
of the report describes how the service is delivered
and identifies conditions or dimensions that affect
performance and cost data of the service.
Three categories of performance measures
are used in the project and are outlined as follows:
-
Measures of Workload: These measures
address the level of service being provided or provide
an assessment of need for a service. An example
of a workload measure is tons of residential refuse
collected.
-
Measures of Efficiency: These measures
may include cost per unit of service provided, cost
per unit of output, or the units of service provided
per full time equivalent position. An example of
an efficiency measure is cost per ton of residential
refuse collected.
-
Measures of Effectiveness: These
measures refer to the quality of service provided,
citizen perceptions of quality, or the extent a
service meets the need for which it was created.
An example of an effectiveness measure is complaints
per 1,000 collection points of residential refuse
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