Summary

The new edition of this practical reference book gives municipal officials and citizens the benchmarking tools needed to assess and establish community standards for their operations and delivery of services.

New to this edition:

-Updated charts and data throughout

-New chapters "Management Services," "Parking Services," "Risk Management," "Social Services," "Streets, Sidewalks, and Storm Drainage," Water and Sewer Services," "Fleet Maintenance," "Gas and Electric Services"

-Expanded coverage including newly adopted performance targets and updated standards for emergency response times for fire, police, and emergency medical service.

Choice Review

Municipalities are constantly evaluating and measuring their operations and delivery of services. This volume suggests that the problem of identifying standards that will measure government operations can be solved by the use of measurement benchmarks. Benchmarks are goals that can be gleaned from public records, citizen surveys, cost benefit analysis, and productivity standards, and that summarize excellence in government job performance. Accurate data comparisons that are not susceptible to ambiguity or politics are needed for analysis. This volume explains where to find the necessary data and the importance and rationale for establishing productivity standards. Ammons then surveys various municipal operations, from animal control through traffic engineering and control, by highlighting various performance measures. The work concludes with an index of performance measures, which Ammons contends should be used as "guideposts" in establishing benchmarks. The author also offers data on some municipalities that can serve as benchmarks for other governments. The overall objective is for a municipality to obtain accurate measurements of its operations and compare its results with nearby municipalities to constantly improve, becoming the best it can be. Graduate; faculty. J. G. Edgens Michigan State University