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From Governing’s
Grading the Counties introductionFebruary 2002 issue
THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECT
Report Card:
The county also has begun the huge task of bringing its airport into compliance with new Federal Aviation Administration security guidelines. Although the airport is a county responsibility, it has been operating on its own enterprise fund, without support from county tax dollars. But additional security has already cost a bundle — dozens of new police officers are staffing security checkpoints — and the airport is losing money each month as a result of decreased business. If this trend continues, the county is likely to have to step in and bail out the facility over the course of the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, Westchester has stepped up plans for protection of its water supply, which it shares with New York City. The county is creating new positions in emergency management and planning, and converting its volunteer hazardous materials team to full-time status.
Obviously, it’s going to be no mean feat for the county to fund these initiatives. Sales-tax receipts were declining even before September 11, and New York State isn’t in a position to help out very much. County officials acknowledge that some projects may be delayed, with the first cuts coming from the limited pool of discretionary spending. One chunk of available cash may be $5 million the county had planned to spend on a state-mandated juvenile justice program; the state has announced its plans to delay implementation of the program until later this year.
Fortunately, Westchester is among the country’s most financially stable counties and can better afford the strains than many others. A piece of its strong foundation is the rule in its charter requiring localities not only to collect property taxes but to pay the county 100 percent of the revenue they owe, whether they are able to collect the full amount or not (they rarely do). The cities, towns and villages gripe about the rule, but none has successfully challenged it.
Positives: The only AAA bond-rated county in New York; three-year budget planning forecast, with review by citizens’ budget advisory committee; guaranteed property-tax revenues from local jurisdictions; good managerial flexibility; budget office and planning board sign off on proposed legislation; solid investment policies; conservative long-term investments; $40 million set aside in debt stabilization fund; new budgeting system implemented in 2000 facilitates budget process and ability to write ad-hoc reports.
Negatives: New York State’s inability to pass budgets on time hampers county budgeting process and cash flow; revenue estimate does not serve as spending cap; current accounting system limits data analysis; procurement system cumbersome, with no use of procurement card or Internet purchasing; no formal rainy day fund.
Positives: Capital programs well centralized; strong planning process includes master and facility planning, a five-year capital improvement program and the use of formal criteria to choose projects; annual condition assessments; complete inventories; maintenance projects chosen before new construction; good communication among agencies during construction process.
Negatives: Project tracking system needs more sophistication.
Positives: Improved recruiting techniques in the county recognized as among best in state; increased hiring flexibility for hard-to-staff positions; computer-based training initiated; pilot program to formalize performance appraisals.
Negatives: Unacceptable level of turnover; nearly 70 percent of employees at pay ceiling; too many classifications, with about half of job titles unused, and long delays frustrating job-title changes; no formal workforce planning; difficult to discipline or terminate employees because of union rules; tough to free up employees for training; HR computer system doesn’t deliver effectively.
Positives: Individual departments prepare strategic plans; goals and targets set during budget process; annual commissioners’ retreat sets countywide goals.
Negatives: Culture is resistant to significant measurement efforts; performance measurement and strategic planning not centralized; baseline data not collected; audits don’t cover program effectiveness; no written performance reports; minimal performance-measurement training for managers and employees.
Positives: After aborting effort to outsource IT in 1998, county has made impressive changes; IT moved out of general services into its own department; countywide systems rebuilt since 1998; integrated system under construction; all employees being trained in basic e-mail and Internet use; New York E-net facilitates data sharing; community IT help desk; emergency-notification system in place; financial information system being upgraded in preparation for new GASB requirements.
Negatives: Formal cost-benefit analysis isn’t conducted prior to or after project implementation; more disaster preparedness needed; state laws limit Internet transactions; long-time employees continue to resist new IT culture; new system in county clerk’s office failed to work.
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nce a national icon for affluent suburbia, Westchester has evolved in recent years into a much more diverse county, with a large population of blue-collar families and a significant amount of poverty. As a result, its government devotes much more of its budget than it ever did in the past to affordable housing, child care and public transportation. Currently, however, the focus is security. One police officer on an eight-hour shift used to guard the main county office building in White Plains. Since the attack on the World Trade Center, less than 30 miles away, at least five officers have been assigned to cover the building around the clock.