Tablack, Wellington support new system

Implementing the system could restore taxpayer
confidence in government.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — On the first day of budget hearings, Mahoning County Administrator George Tablack received cooperation from Sheriff Randall Wellington on a new performance measurement system called the Balanced Scorecard approach.

Tablack said he and Commissioner Anthony Traficanti are rolling out the concept for the 2008 budgeting process to establish measurable ways to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of government services.

One of the hallmarks of the concept is getting feedback from taxpayers on the job being done by the county’s departments, so Tablack plans to produce questionnaires that will be available at the departments asking customers to rate their satisfaction with the services provided.

The Balanced Scorecord concept is being promoted by the Government Finance Officers Association, said Tablack, former county auditor. The Balanced Scorecard refers to running government in ways that measure customer satisfaction, product quality, and employee satisfaction, along with the more traditional financial measurements of cost to provide services.

Wellington brought several proposals to commissioners while delivering his $19.6 million 2008 budget proposal. Among them were reducing the number of deputies needed to guard the county courthouse, using alternative-sentencing programs such as ankle bracelets and work programs, and instituting an inmate management system.

Tablack says he is especially interested in the management system, which he has asked U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, to help fund.

The computer system would allow each judge in the common pleas court to keep track of each inmate being housed at the county jail so that when the need arises to release prisoners, the judges can make highly informed decisions about which ones should be released.

Tablack noted that private enterprise has the best type of built-in monitoring system in use: When certain business practices fail to work, they are eliminated in order to improve the bottom line. The Balanced Scorecard approach came into being because government lacks that type of responsiveness, Tablack said.

The ultimate goal of the Balanced Scorecard is to restore the public’s confidence in government’s ability to spend money efficiently and effectively so that the needs of the community can be addressed when they arise, such as fixing roads or bridges, he said.

It may be hard to measure the customer satisfaction in a department such as the county jail, Tablack noted, but the building inspection department might be perfect for it.

Such a department needs to meet performance goals in order to provide business people with the most efficient service possible so that it can allow the “dirt to fly” on their projects as soon as possible, Tablack said.

The sheriff’s budget request was for 23 percent, or $3.6 million more than in 2007. Much of that is for 700 additional deputies to operate the jail, which fully reopened this year after a federal inmate lawsuit was resolved.

Wellington said the increase in costs will be offset by $4 million to $5 million more in revenue from housing city and federal inmates.

runyan@vindy.com