Grading the States introduction THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECT Report Card: Maryland GOVERNOR Parris N. Glendening (Democrat, elected 1994) LEGISLATURE House — 106 Democrats, 35 Republicans Senate — 33 Democrats, 14 Republicans FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: A- Maryland budgeters follow Longfellow’s admonition to “Trust no future, however pleasant.” They maintain rigorous requirements for long-term planning, with one of the best fiscal note processes in the country to guarantee the soundness of new ventures. Program and project analysis is performed by a nonpartisan and professional legislative staff, to try to avoid unanticipated surprises as programs roll on. Largely as a result, the state’s budgets are structurally balanced, and Maryland has triple-A bond ratings from all three agencies. In fact, virtually everything Maryland’s finance office does is done well. Weaknesses in contract management and procurement have been addressed with heightened training. One problem is that the crystal ball the state uses for revenue projections has been a bit cloudy. “We’re losing credibility with the governor,” frets Neil Bergsman, director of budget analysis, noting that general fund revenue in fiscal 2000 came in 8.2 percent over estimates. The previous year it was nearly 10 percent above estimates. Medicaid projections were also a bit rough in the year ended last June; a $100 million supplemental appropriation was required, putting spending about 9.7 percent over budgeted amounts. CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: A Maryland’s capital management system is well thought-through and intelligently run, from planning to maintenance. Add to that solid system the additional resources that the current economy has provided, and virtually everything is in place. Right now, the only real challenges involve a continuing push for more maintenance dollars and a need to upgrade the technology tools used to manage facilities. The long-term planning is formidable. A five-year capital plan is drawn up by the Department of Budget and Management, with the input of state agencies, each of which prepares a 10-year facilities master plan. Statewide blueprints are taken seriously at all levels. Nearly all funded capital projects appear in the five-year plan. The transportation department’s geographic information system is a standout. It allows planners to consider regions and neighborhoods where transportation funding is most needed, and projects that would benefit the state the most. HUMAN RESOURCES: B Although Maryland has less formal work-force planning than other well-run states, it targets its problem areas creatively. A special task force focuses attention on clerical workers, with the state offering up-front tuition money so that they can steer themselves toward career paths with upward potential. In 1999, a new salary plan was set up that provides more movement for employees and solves a longstanding problem with those who had reached their maximum pay level. But despite progress on these fronts, it still takes far too long to hire new employees. The classification system may be redesigned, but for now, it is burdened with duplicative titles and needs a full overhaul. The HR technology is older than many of the job applicants, so procedures are paper-intensive. The good news is that within a couple of years, the state should have a new technology in place. Collective bargaining for state employees went into effect here two years ago. So far, it hasn’t been a problem. Labor-management partnerships and task forces seem to be giving employees more input than they used to have. MANAGING FOR RESULTS: B Governor Glendening and Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend have made performance measurement a priority for the state’s agencies. There is no entity-wide strategic plan yet (although one is in the works), but Maryland incorporates a great deal of strategic information into its state budget document. Each agency has a program description, mission, vision, key goals, objectives and performance measures spelled out in the budget. The quality of the measures and the agency strategic plans varies quite a bit. Several agencies, including the one responsible for K-12 education, are standouts, and two or three still hope the whole thing will go away. The rest fall in between. The state has purposely put off an emphasis on validation of the data until agencies are a little more comfortable with the process — an effort that should begin later this year. Partially as a result, the legislature has been a bit wary. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: B Progress here has been dramatic over the past couple of years, thanks to the appointment of an energetic CIO, Alisoun Moore. IT procurement used to be a big problem, for example, but Moore has streamlined the process by using large, multiple-award contracts. This has cleared up the previous bottleneck caused by going through a detailed effort with every new item purchased. A couple of years ago, the very idea of standardizing technology in Maryland was revolutionary. That has changed. Of course, with brand new standards, there’s still a reasonable amount of technology that isn’t operable across agency lines, and that will have to be dealt with over time. Of great significance, Maryland is moving toward a fully converted multi-media network. Its backbone will be operational this September. Currently, Maryland’s use of data statewide is neither as speedy nor as cheap as the state would like. When the network is done, those issues should fall away. One exciting prospect: Oncology specialists at Johns Hopkins would like to be able to see cancer cell images clearly online, but the necessary level of resolution isn’t available without extremely high bandwidth. The new network should provide it, allowing consultation and treatment advice over the Web. HR professionals here can look forward to a replacement of their legacy system in the next couple of years. Right now, managers have a hard time getting the data they need. AVERAGE GRADE: B+ Copyright © 2001, 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.