Revenue Rank: 18
Form of Government: Council-Manager
Mayor: Skip Rimsza (took office 1994)
City Manager: Frank Fairbanks (appointed 1990)
City Council: 8 members, elected by district
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: A
Rigorous is the word for every aspect of Phoenix’s financial management, from contingency planning to the monitoring of contracts. When the city council makes a decision, it has in front of it information on all financial ramifications. Any programmatic change — down to an expansion of swimming pool hours — includes an analysis of the fiscal impact, which the Budget and Research Department then reviews. The city publishes a summary of its proposed budget as a 16-page newspaper insert (including a Spanish version) and distributes it widely.
Like all other cities, Phoenix could still improve its use of cost accounting, but it’s moving quickly in that direction, and new computer technology will help.
About the only cloud in this Arizona sky: Phoenix underestimated its revenues in 1998, with revenues coming in almost 9 percent more than expected. Forecasters simply couldn’t believe that the economy would continue to boom the way it did. As with many cities, spending has lately come in under estimates due to a labor shortage that left Phoenix with a smaller payroll than the city had planned for.
HUMAN RESOURCES: A
The local government in Phoenix is strikingly rich in information about its work force, and customizes training programs in accordance with the data it collects. Computer systems enable the personnel department to keep a database of information about the effectiveness of training, a real rarity in any American city.
The city maintains a 10-day Supervisory Academy and a Management Academy for its top employees, and reimburses tuition for attendance at outside college programs. As part of their orientation, all new employees receive ethics training, and supervisors are taught how to handle disciplinary problems. In a recent survey, 97 percent of employees agreed that the Phoenix government was a good place to work.
Phoenix uses many approaches to reward employees who do superior work, including a very strong Employee Suggestion Program. Personnel evaluations are well done.
About the only weakness here is in long-term work force planning. Most of the information gathered comes in on a year-to-year basis.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: A-
Phoenix uses what it calls a “coordinated decentralized approach” to information management. This seems to work exceptionally well, combining maximum input from agencies with a powerful central control over the general direction the city is heading in. Departmental barriers and turf fights over IT have all but faded away in Phoenix.
Managers utilize the technology continually to perform their tasks better, in citywide decision making as well as in specific agencies. For example, Phoenix’s education and youth information system is an enterprise-wide Intranet system that allows managers to see what youth-based programs are being offered by various departments, where, when and by whom.
The city had problems implementing its new budget information system; the technology that was purchased wasn’t powerful enough for a government Phoenix’s size. The appropriate changes were made, but the system had to be held out of use for nine months.
Phoenix’s Web site is relatively strong, and will soon benefit from the capacity to perform more transactions.
CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: A
Largely because of an extraordinary capital planning process — and a vigorous effort to educate citizens — 19 out of Phoenix’s last 20 bond proposals have won voter approval. Departments generate five- to seven-year capital needs studies, which are carefully reviewed to make sure they’re consistent with citywide plans and financial feasibility. The city generates an enormous amount of data to inform the effort. Capital needs are estimated far enough in advance to keep fees and costs from rising precipitously.
Phoenix’s focus on maintaining its infrastructure is also very impressive. There is a five-year facilities management plan, which includes equipment replacement schedules for major components of infrastructure. A database system manages and updates the replacement schedule. The condition of streets is monitored every two years, and there is a state-of-the-art pavement management program. City policy is to fully maintain facilities and defer no maintenance costs.
MANAGING FOR RESULTS: A
Overall goals in Phoenix are guided by vision statements and values statements. No. 1: to produce high customer satisfaction at the lowest possible cost and in a seamless fashion. Phoenix doesn’t have gargantuan strategic planning documents — “credenza-ware,” in the words of budget director Cecile Pettle. It does an excellent job, however, of communicating strategic vision down the line. “You ask a garbage collector how he contributes to customer service, and he can tell you,” says Pettle.
Getting input from citizens is a high priority. Hundreds of volunteers sit on committees to keep leaders informed on the mood of the citizenry at a given moment.
Phoenix uses many outcome-oriented performance measures. Targets are set for programs and departments, and managers’ salaries are based on achieving those targets. Independent contractors are hired to collect and report much of the data used to validate performance measures, including data from other cities.
Perhaps most important, data is used consistently to improve services. When Phoenix discovered that citizens didn’t want to speak with multiple employees to get answers to easy questions (”What should I do about this pothole?”), it issued a pamphlet for every field employee with information on common problems and how to respond to them.
AVERAGE GRADE: A
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