New York City's Accountability Tools Pay Off in Tracking Service to Citizens

"With NYCStat, we are continuing to meet the challenge and the opportunity that Web-based technologies present for helping citizens become directly involved in government." -- NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (pictured)

Today, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg issued the Preliminary Mayor's Management Report (PMMR) for Fiscal Year 2009. The PMMR provides a snapshot of how the city has performed four months into the fiscal year and forecasts expected levels of service based on the city's preliminary budget.

"The preliminary results in this report demonstrate the city's ability to maintain and enhance key services," said Bloomberg in a release. "Our commitment to accountability and performance management -- through the Mayor's Management Report, and through the new NYCStat performance reporting tool -- helps ensure our ability to navigate through this period of economic pressures while safeguarding the services most crucial to New Yorkers' wellbeing and quality of life."

The City's Accountability Tools: NYCStat, CPR and the MMR

The charter-mandated MMR, issued twice-yearly on a schedule aligned with the city's budget cycle, presents performance trends and narrative explanations for a wide range of important statistics. The online CPR system, focusing on only the most critical performance measures for each agency, provides dynamic access to performance data in an up-to-date dashboard format; frequent updates, with new data each month for most indicators; and at-a-glance performance evaluations, summarizing trends for each measure, agency, and type of service.

Today the city is taking the next step forward in centralizing online access to information about city service delivery, according to a release from the Mayor's Office. The NYCStat system is designed to be the city's one-stop-shop for all essential data, reports, and statistics related to city services. From the NYCStat Web page users can access a wide array of performance-related information including citywide and agency-specific information, 311-related data, and interactive mapping features for selected performance data and quality-of-life indicators.

"With NYCStat," said Bloomberg, "we are continuing to meet the challenge and the opportunity that Web-based technologies present for helping citizens become directly involved in government. By eliminating the mystery about where and what kinds of performance information are available, the city will increase accountability to its customers in the same way we increased service to customers by creating 311."