Pepperell Post, January 2011: 7th Annual Performance Report, Executive Summary

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A Newsletter by the City of Saco, Maine	January, 2011	Return to newsletter index

7th Annual Performance Report, Executive Summary

EDITOR'S NOTE: Below is the executive summary for the 7th Annual Performance Report. The full report may be downloaded in PDF format.

In Fiscal Year 2010, the City of Saco faced the same extraordinary financial circumstances that challenged cities and towns across the country. With a solid foundation of innovation and responsiveness that it has been building on for several years, the city organization met these challenges and, by many measures, can report to the greater community good news on its performance. Further, the Fall 2009 citizen opinion survey provided citizen feedback to reinforce the city's own assessment provided herein.

Specific examples of positive performance by the city organization in the demanding economic environment in FY10 include an improved Bond Rating by Moodys, when the city sold a General Obligation Bond, from A1 to Aa2. As well, while other regional municipalities faced layoffs, Saco maintained a stable workforce; the only position made vacant was left funded for the year. Further, Saco had no property tax rate increase for city services, cut no city services and preserved existing service levels, instead relying on other means to stabilize its tax rates, such as increasing excise revenues through an innovative partnership.

Highlights from each city departments' own service delivery performance assessment (incorporated in the body of this report) include:

Voters approved a General Obligation Bond that provided funds to build a new Fire Station (see pg 78).
The Wastewater Treatment Plant secured a contract to add significant revenues at no cost to users (see pg 91).
The city's Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) receives the state's first CEO of the Year Award; housing starts in Saco begin to grow again in FY10 (see pg 51).
The City Clerk successfully fielded a test of one consolidated location for Election Day voting (see pg 68).
The Finance Department resumed submission of the Comprehensive Audited Financial Report for evaluation by the Government Finance Officers Association in order to maintain the highest quality standards of reporting on financial activity (see pg 21).
Minimal inquiries in Assessing about valuations despite ongoing housing market instability; the department is one of only four statewide to maintain current valuations at close to or at 100% (see pg 17).
Information Technology makes significant advancement in its goal to 100% virtualization of servers (see pg 32).
Voters approve a bond to allow Public Works to pave 20 miles of the city's 125 miles (see pg 37).
Human Resources begins a more complex survey process to better capture dimensions of employee satisfaction (see pg 46).
Parks and Recreation achieves and exceeds its goal of self sufficiency in Recreation area funding while increasing and diversifying its program options (see pg 57).
The Planning and Economic Development Department completes and Council approves the city's first Housing Strategy (see pg 72).
Average police response times of 3.7 minutes to domestic disturbance issues as call volumes continue to rise (see pg 86).

These positive outcomes, both on the citywide and departmental levels, coupled with positive overall ratings by citizens for overall quality of life in the city, for feelings of safety in the city, as a place to live, as a place to raise children, and overall quality of service from city employees, reflect well on the city organization. While other communities were managing with a shrinking tax base, the Saco instead added $17,000,000 in new value Ð the City of Saco remains an attractive and growing community.

Throughout this period of economic turbulence, the City of Saco remained active in addressing all the issues it faces, including those around managing growth and communication with citizens, as discussed in past iterations of this report.

Managing growth has been an ongoing challenge for the city - the Strategic Plan includes an entire goal dedicated to this concern, including a focus on sustainability, a growth concept that is broadly applied by the city's management. The city's work in this year on an Economic Development Plan, as well as its new Housing Strategy and the coming update to the Comprehensive Plan, all keep the focus on the city's future.

In terms of communications, the city continues to publish its online newsletter, which has stable viewership and is rated positively by citizens. As well, the city continues to work on getting timely information to citizens in easily accessible formats with a focus on the website for reaching citizens. The publication in FY10 of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) national case study of Saco's customer service systems provided the city with specific recommendations on improvements that are being implemented, such as the website's external Help Desk feature that allows citizens and visitors to request information or services electronically 24/7. The ICMA initiative also brought Saco to a national audience when the city was asked to conduct an online presentation about its Customer Service approach.

In closing, the city continues to strive to develop satisfactory responses to all issues of concern, especially with managing costs, managing growth, and improving communication. While the City of Saco can report satisfactory service delivery results and citizen satisfaction assessments, the city recognizes and proactively plans for ongoing organizational improvement in all areas.

Respectfully submitted,
Richard Michaud