National Organization Recognizes Pinal County’s Performance Management

The ICMA Center for Performance Measurement announced this month that Pinal County’s Performance Management program warranted a Certificate of Excellence from the organization.

“This award reaffirms what we set out to do in 2007-2008 – to put the taxpayer first by prioritizing programs, transparency, accountability, cost reduction and overall improvement,” Pinal County Board of Supervisors’ Chairman David Snider said.  “Performance measures provide us as policy and budget managers with a roadmap – and lets taxpayers measure how their tax dollars are spent,” he concluded.

Pinal County’s Performance Management was judged to meet or exceed eight standards of criteria put in place for the Certificate of Excellence.  The criteria included:

• Reporting of performance data to the public through budgets, newsletters and/or information provided to elected officials
• Data verification efforts to ensure data reliability
• Staff training
• Use of performance data in strategic planning and operational decision making
• Sharing of performance measurement knowledge with other local governments through presentations, site visits and other networking
• Commitment to tracking and reporting key outcomes
• Surveying of both residents and local government employees
• Effective and timely reporting

ICMA’s Center for Performance Management gauged Pinal County’s performance management efforts over a period of time and compared it to other government organizations.  Pinal County is one of 26 jurisdictions nationwide to be honored with this award.

“This shows how much Pinal County progressed since 2008 in adopting measurable standards that encourage goal-setting, achievement and performance improvement using current best practices,” said Kent Taylor, administrator of Pinal County’s Performance Management program.

“This program is the foundation for how we serve the public,” Taylor said.  “The program forces each of us to focus on the results we are delivering to our internal and external customers.”