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From Governing’s
Grading the Counties introductionFebruary 2002 issue
THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECT
Report Card:
When it comes to management, however, Prince George’s does a somewhat better job than its unfortunate public image would suggest. Its top managers know they have fewer resources than wealthier counties in the area, and they’ve done well living within their means. The information technology department, for example, sets a high standard of efficiency. Most of the IT services have been outsourced for decades, saving considerable money. Now Prince George’s is revamping the department and its outsourcing contract, creating a cabinet-level director and bringing some critical skills and programs — such as GIS — back in-house.
The county has launched an innovative park-school program, in which new school construction includes space, such as meeting rooms and computer labs, that can be used day and night for community needs.
That program is especially important because the county imposed a major financial burden on its school system in 1998 when it emerged from a quarter-century of mandatory busing with a pledge to build 26 new neighborhood schools within four years. The state put up some of the money for this program, but most of the cost comes out of scarce county dollars. This year, Prince George’s will spend about $131 million on school construction alone.
One reason funds are scarce even in boom years is the strict tax cap that voters enacted in 1978, and have continued to support despite efforts by county leaders to repeal it. The cap restricts property tax rates to $2.40 on each $100 of assessed value. Over the years, it has reduced the amount of money available for long-term county needs in almost every area.
On the brighter side, there may be one benefit to being less affluent in tough economic times. Stanley Earley, the county’s budget director, likes to argue that because its residents don’t invest as heavily in the stock market as those in wealthier Maryland counties, it won’t see as dramatic a drop in income-tax revenues this year. “When times are really good, we can’t get too happy,” Earley says, “but when times get worse, we don’t have as far to fall.”
Positives: Formal spending affordability rules keep costs in line; debt forecasts stretch over a remarkably long 35 years; use of financial adviser on all debt issuance; well-stocked rainy day fund replenished by statutory requirement; additional administrative reserves fund; small but expanding long-term investment portfolio.
Negatives: Restrictive property-tax cap, barring increase in tax rates without voter referendum; rigid state controls on some investment policies; supplemental pension plan currently 42 percent below adequate funding, although it previously was 80 percent unfunded.
Positives: Creative use of new school facilities to meet multiple community needs; recent comprehensive condition assessments of all schools and fire stations; increased attention to life-cycle costs in planning; six-year capital improvement plan.
Negatives: Many projects miss schedule and budget targets; operating cost estimates need refinement; $150 million backlog in school-related maintenance; 20-year pavement-replacement program behind schedule because of insufficient funding; lacking automated project-management and condition databases.
Positives: New personnel law permits reform of classification system and adds salary and hiring flexibility; improved recruitment, retention and succession-planning efforts; centralized background checks; combined labor and personnel offices reduce inefficiencies; automatic rollover of salary hikes in union contracts eliminated; extensive family-friendly policies; broadbanding pilot under way; online job training begun.
Negatives: Still too many job classifications; civil service system limits hiring for top-level managers; no formal workforce planning; county HR department complains of too many individual bargaining units.
Positives: Management carefully tracks 11 strategic goals and 60 strategic objectives; budget aligned with goals; performance-measurement training in place for upper-level managers in the county, with emphasis on new performance-measurement computer system.
Negatives: Council not actively involved in strategic planning; most big departments don’t have formal plans; rank-and-file employees not actively involved in day-to-day performance measurement; auditors’ recommendations sometimes ignored; measures use outputs more than outcomes.
Positives: Agencies handling voice, data systems merged under now Office of Information Technology, with cabinet-level director; each agency has an IT coordinator as a liaison to OITC; revamped outsourcing contract returns responsibility for critical IT projects to county; projects in on time and on budget; good compliance with procurement standards; mandatory training for IT staff; cost-benefit analyses recently initiated.
Negatives: E-government initiative insufficiently funded; departmental strategic plan updated infrequently, but cycle is being reassessed.
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rince George’s County hasn’t fared well in the press lately. Its police department has been accused of brutality, its school board has feuded with the school superintendent, and the county executive has had a series of well-publicized disputes with the governor (who used to be the county executive here himself). Newspapers are fond of comparing minority-dominated Prince George’s to Montgomery County, its affluent white neighbor, and those comparisons rarely turn out reassuring.