Grading the Cities introduction THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECT Report Card: Baltimore Revenue Rank: 8 Form of Government: Mayor-Council Mayors: Kurt L. Schmoke (1987-99); Martin O’Malley (took office 1999) City Council: 18 members, elected by district Elected City Council President: Sheila Dixon FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: B+ Conservative budgeting, coupled with stronger-than-predicted revenues, has provided Baltimore with surpluses in each of the past three years. Properly, most of the surpluses go to one-time expenditures, not open-ended commitments. Unfortunately, the city’s rainy day fund is still at only 1.6 percent of general fund revenues, and low reserves have provoked complaints from the bond rating agencies. Achieving fiscal stability isn’t easy in this troubled city. Population is declining, the tax base is shrinking and reductions in federal grants have put more strain on the balance sheet. Managers have been forced to walk a tightrope to keep the books successfully in balance. Right now, forecasts show a growing shortfall from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2003, when expenditures are predicted to exceed revenues by $72.7 million. No surprise then that Baltimore keeps tight controls over spending. It has also done a good job at selecting outside contractors with care. “We don’t just want people with an ability to lowball,” says John Miller, the city purchasing agent. One clear weakness: Effective cost accounting is almost nonexistent here. HUMAN RESOURCES: C+ In a rush to downsize, Baltimore’s city council instituted an early retirement program in 1996 that offered only a three-month window for workers to accept. Result: 1,300 employees vanished, almost overnight, and the city had no plans for the sudden shift. Some were hired back under contract, but soaring overtime and loss of key people “really crushed us,” says the personnel director. Fortunately, the council learned a painful lesson in planning its major personnel moves more effectively. Still, downsizings — and subsequent restructurings — have left Baltimore with a bollixed-up civil service and classification system. New human resources technology is anticipated, but for now, much of the city’s personnel information — including data on training and education — is held in paper files. This makes work force planning difficult. It takes too long to process agencies’ requests for new employees, although the city has made progress by streamlining the testing process for clerical positions, phasing out the old written exams in favor of training and experience evaluations. Recruiting is a relatively bright spot. Baltimore has instituted a 24-hour job hotline and records the interests of those who contact the line, even if there are no jobs available at the moment they call. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: C “I know that talk is cheap,” says Baltimore’s CIO, Elliot Schlanger, “but there’s sufficient evidence that this city is taking the proper steps in terms of IT to bootstrap itself into the new millennium. There’s a lot of pent-up demand.” Schlanger has only been in office since last April, but he seems to be making progress. There was virtually no IT standardization prior to his arrival; now, the city is developing a solid architecture. The importance of IT training also has been elevated, although it’s still hardly a bright spot. Enterprise-wide systems — installed to handle financial management and human resources — haven’t served the city very well so far. But a new financial management system should get better information to managers more quickly than ever before. The current human resources information system is of marginal use for decision making; a new one is expected to come on line this year. Baltimore has a strategic plan for information technology, but an anticipated update is six months behind schedule because resources were allocated to Y2K and the new financial program. “No excuses,” Schlanger says. “We’re late.” CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: B Analysis of future capital needs has been done well in Baltimore, with an excellent six-year capital program adopted by the Board of Estimates. The city council generally follows the plan, and the vast majority of projects it describes are ultimately completed. The city has made strong efforts to link the capital plan with overall city objectives. This has led to such efficiencies as building a new recreation center as part of a new library. Baltimore does a reasonable job assessing the condition of its assets at an agency level, and has an asset management system (which resides in the public works department) to keep the city on a clear schedule for preventive maintenance. The condition of the streets is reasonably well tracked. But citizens are sometimes confronted with infrastructure problems. There have been several burst water pipes in the past few years, and a major street cave-in occurred in 1997. MANAGING FOR RESULTS: B Near the end of Mayor Kurt Schmoke’s 12-year reign, the city worked on a new goals initiative, “PlanBaltimore,” which is designed to feature extensive citizen involvement. Although a draft went to neighborhood groups, the mayor thought it best not to push for formal adoption by the city council, given his impending departure. In the past, in the absence of a formal written strategic plan, the mayor has communicated his goals through 19 citywide objectives, which ideally are communicated to all workers. This has worked well in some areas, such as the police department, and less well in others, such as public works. Baltimore’s Performance Measurement Project was launched in 1996 and is focused on the mayor’s objectives. Although the city is still striving for better use of baseline data and outcome measurements, the quality of the data is generally good and highly useful. The establishment of objectives and measurement has led to numerous management improvements, such as reaching more children with library services and establishing a 311 line for non-emergency calls to the police. AVERAGE GRADE: B- Copyright © 2000, Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Governing, City & State and Governing.com are trademarks of Congressional Quarterly, Inc.