Opinion

Business as Usual Won’t Save Localities

Performance management, not business as usual, presents a golden opportunity for cities and counties in North Carolina. One of the age-old arguments made by business leaders turned candidates is that government should be run more like a business. One tool beginning to take hold in many communities is performance management. At the conceptual level, performance management marries many of the driving forces of business with the need to maintain (and often improve) government services. Essentially, performance management requires accountability at budget time. When staff members make their annual budget presentations taxpayers rarely hear local elected officials ask why localities are funding departments whose performance cannot be measured.

Chad Adams

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