THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECTReport Card: Ohio FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: B+ When Governor Voinovich took office at the start of the 1990s, Ohio's budget was supported in alarmingly shaky fashion by one-time revenue gimmicks. Now, the budget is structurally sound, with no gimmicks necessary. Similarly, Ohio's pension funds are in excellent shape; not so many years ago, there were unfunded liabilities of close to 20 percent. Moreover, the budget stabilization fund has been held at a solid 5 percent since fiscal year 1996. Though Ohio doesn't have consensus forecasting of revenues—the executive and legislative branches make separate predictions—the end result usually splits the difference between the two figures. There is no widespread cost accounting, though some of the agencies have moved in this direction. The state is following national trends in doing more with performance-based contracting, but it's an area that invites improvement. Like so much else in this state, Ohio's long-term planning and forecasting process isn't bad, but it's largely done informally. "Other states may have more rigorous processes," says Paolo DeMaria, who was Voinovich's budget director, "but I'm comfortable with what we do." CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: B Ohio has a solid capital planning process. Agencies prioritize their capital requests. The Office of Budget and Management further prioritizes the requests and sends the package to the governor for inclusion in the biennial capital budget bill. A six-year capital plan is published, which reports the actual appropriation for the upcoming two years and planned amounts for the four years after that. The state closely monitors its debt capacity to make sure that projects are not approved in excess of the state goal of annual debt service: 5 percent of general fund revenues. The State Architect's office monitors contracts and tracks timeliness, completeness and quality of work on projects. Given the powerful central control of project management, it's a little surprising that the maintenance end of the equation is rather decentralized, and risks being short-changed when economic times are hard. Though the budget office believes most facilities are in good shape, it is unable to track expenses for facilities maintenance. HUMAN RESOURCES: B The Voinovich administration took justifiable pride in giving program managers appropriate authority to make timely hiring decisions. A decade ago, it could take three months to fill out applications and take tests for a position. Now, with walk-in testing, applicants can accomplish both on the same day. Forms can even be filled out at home, and the state is developing the capacity to accept them by e-mail. Training is another reasonably strong point, with individual agencies taking the lead. A workforce development tuition assistance plan provides $1,000 per year for each bargaining-unit employee to take courses related to state government at any of 11 state-supported colleges and universities. One significant weakness is that Ohio's job classification system is complex and difficult to understand, with the rationale for some individual classifications elusive at best. There are about 2,500 classifications in the state. In the late 1980s, Ohio attempted to alleviate this problem and embarked on a huge (but unsuccessful) revamping of the system. It was such a controversial and unpleasant effort that the Voinovich administration just stayed clear of the whole mess. MANAGING FOR RESULTS: C+ All of Ohio's agency directors engage in strategic planning, with input from citizens and clients, and submit quarterly reports on the progress they're making in meeting the goals and objectives of their plans. The statewide plan is five years old, however, and hasn't been updated. There has not been a formal process for encouraging the statewide measurement of results, though there have been a number of pockets of activity. For example, the Department of Education has begun a program to issue report cards for school districts and individual schools. Extensive data is also collected for Workers' Compensation and the Department of Transportation. A small pilot involving in-depth performance reporting is in place for 16 programs. The budget office is closely watching this effort to see how performance information can be used most effectively within individual programs. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: B Ohio is upgrading its statewide accounting information system, which will include a reporting database component and will allow agencies to customize their own reports. A new human resources system began implementation last spring, allowing for efficient use of significant data. One of the biggest efforts on the IT front is the development of a full conceptual architecture for technology. Committees, staffed from the agencies, are developing standards and guidelines. The process will be completed next June. Ohio has an award-winning digital fiber-optic communication infrastructure already in place. It serves public television and radio, public libraries, schools, colleges and universities, and some state agencies. Total cost: about $107 million. Savings over the previous system: about $12 million a year. The state's e-mail systems aren't as effective as they should be, and communication can be troublesome. In addition, agencies are frustrated with the time required to satisfy the state's procurement people with the detail in RFPs. A complicated RFP can take a year to complete. AVERAGE GRADE: B
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