Tom Lundy Presentation

1
Permanency By The Numbers Garnering
Support Bobby K. Boyd, Director Department of
Social Services Catawba County, North
Carolina October 18, 2004
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Where is Catawba County?
Catawba County is located in a valley just east
of the Blue Ridge Mountains, one hour north of
Charlotte. Catawba County was established on
December 12, 1842.
Catawba County
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Local Government

• There are 100 counties and 500 municipalities
  (cities and towns) in North Carolina.
• Catawba County is the 11th largest County in
  North Carolina.
• Social Services is the largest County Department
  with 1/3 of county employees.

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Catawba County Social Services

• 5 Elected Commissioners/County Manager
• 5 Appointed Social Services Board Members
• 148,000 Population
• Budget 165,000,000 Total
• Federal 108,000,000
• State 42,000,000
• County 15,000,000
• 370 Employees
• Elongated Range of Services Provided
• Public Assistance
• Adult Services
• Child Welfare
• Family and Childrens Services
• Prevention

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Implementation of Performance Based Government

• North Carolina is a County Administered/State
  Supervised Social Services
• Strong Local Government Management
• Catawba County is a good Environment for
  Innovation
• Board of Commissioners are text book in Policy
  making/management
• Solid Experienced County Manager
• Effective Department of Social Services
• Expectation to be Innovative and Creative
• History of being Outcomes Oriented
• Trust between Commissioners Manager Social
  Services Board Director
• Good Community/Organization Relationship
• Experienced Leadership

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Idea Is Born

• Manager and Department Heads Read David Osborne
  and Ted Gaeblers Reinventing Government
• Meetings on Reinventing Government Books
  Concepts
• Discussion on Appropriateness for Catawba County
• Department Heads Reach Agreement
• Commissioners are willing to Reinvent Government

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General Themes

• Government should be mission driven and results
  oriented
• Transform rule driven organizations -- Get rid
  of some of the rules!!
• It is alright for government to make a profit

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Critical Factors

• Support of elected officials
• Understanding and commitment of top
  administrators
• Customer focus
• Organizational culture
• Staff team oriented

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The value of Performance Measurement Budgeting

• Become a more active organization by defining our
  mission and vision and achieving goals which
  support the mission and move us closer to a
  realization of our vision
• Place greater focus on the customer -- whats the
  impact of services?
• Achieve and sustain higher service levels within
  limited resources
• Accountability citizens expect effective and
  efficient service
• Competition contracts with private providers of
  services should include performance standards

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The Fundamental Trade-Off
Accountability for Outcomes
Flexibility Authority
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Changes in the Budget Process

• Budget Focus changed to Outcomes instead of Line
  Item Analysis
• Increased use of Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Department Head authority to move funds/ create,
  abolish, move positions
• Appropriations based on achieving outcomes
• Departments reinvest savings/revenues
• County funds held harmless

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Most organizations focus on inputs and outputs
Inputs
Outputs
Number of adoption information calls staff,
equipment training
Number of child placements
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Our Focus has Evolved to Outcomes
Outputs
Outcomes
Specific Time Frame to Permanency (Number of
Disruptions)
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Components of an Outcome
Think S-M-A-R-T

• Specific
• Measurable
• Aggressive but Attainable
• Results Oriented
• Time Bound

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Establishment of OutcomesOngoing Process

• Boards Establish Goals (August)
• Supervisors/Staff Develop Possible Outcomes
  (November)
• Director meets with all Units, Managers,
  Supervisors, and Budget Office (December)
• Cost of Meeting Outcomes Determined (January)
• Social Services Board Adopts Budget (February)
• Budget and outcomes presented to Budget Office
  (February)
• Outcomes discussed with Manager (March)
• Commissioners budget consideration (May)
• Budget adopted (June)

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Monitoring Outcomes

• Measurement tools
• Customer Surveys
• Pre Post Tests
• Measuring the Right Things!
• Outcomes Tied to Employee Performance Evaluations
• Departmental outcomes are an integral part of
  each employees and Department Heads performance
  evaluation.
• Performance pay raises are tied to outcomes.
• Savings Tied to Achievement of Outcomes
• The Department must accomplish at least 90 of
  its outcomes to have use of 100 of savings.
• Updates on the progress and achievement of
  outcomes are reported to the Board of
  Commissioners and County Manager on a semi-annual
  and annual basis, and to the Social Services
  Board monthly.

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Outcome Achievement Results
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Frontline Decisions

• Realized an Overall Customer Satisfaction Rating
  of 98
• 93 of Children newly identified for Adoption
  between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2003 were
  placed for adoption within 12 months without
  disruption
• 100 of Children receiving post adoption services
  did not disrupt during 2003-2004
• Concentrated efforts on streamlining and
  re-engineering processes for foster care
  payments, trust accounts, and food stamp case
  management, saving 25,000 per year.

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Fund BalanceAs of June 30, 2004 was 2,700,000
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Uses of Reinventing Fund Balance Include

• Created Family Builders of Catawba Valley
  mainly an adoption agency
• Increased staff coverage to improve
  round-the-clock care at three Childrens Group
  homes
• Contributed 2/3 of building expansion and
  renovation cost
• Purchased updated computer hardware and developed
  software
• Created a Child Advocacy Center, Post Adoption
  Program, Therapeutic Foster Care, Family N.E.T.,
  built additional group home, provided staff merit
  pay

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Performance Budgeting Implementation

• Takes times many budget cycles
• Requires continuity in leadership and staff
  expertise
• Builds on the line-item budget
• Requires commissioners and Social Services
  Boards approval of goals and objectives

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Using Benchmarks to improve services

• Identify strengths in service delivery
• Identify weaknesses in service delivery
• Maintain service level outcomes with reduced
  costs
• Develop new outcomes

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What are our Benchmarks?

• Children in Foster Care backlog in Catawba
  benchmarked against same level counties in North
  Carolina
• Catawba Countys share of statewide adoption
  incentives
• Percent of Catawba Countys Kinship Care
  placements compared to statewide numbers
• Average number of placements for children in
  foster care in Catawba compared to statewide
  numbers

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Lessons Learned After Ten Years of Outcome
Budgeting

• Understanding and acceptance by employees and
  Board members is essential.
• It is not for every department within County
  Government dual systems.
• More effort than anticipated is necessary to
  create and track outcome measures.
• Spending plans for fund balance are critical.
• Ground rules must be established up front, but
  not carved in stone because we have to respond
  to new or unexpected circumstances.
• Trust is essential.

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If you decide to pursue Outcome Budgeting.

• Be willing to make some mistakes and learn from
  them
• Persistence is your strongest ally because
  inertia is your greatest foe
• Remember that performance measurement is an art,
  not a science we dont know how to do it well
  yet
• Its more important to focus on doing a few key
  processes well rather than everything with
  mediocrity
• In order to achieve the full benefit of our
  investments in this project, we must take time to
  carefully review the data and make improvements,
  noting areas where we excelled or fell short of
  expectations.

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Effective Approaches with Decision Makers

• Trust and Respect Relationships
• Win-Win Opportunity
• Controls County Cost
• Greater Flexibility and Authority
• Focus of Discussions on Organizations
  Accomplishments (Outcomes) rather than Funding
• Removes the need for the Agency to advocate with
  local decision makers for additional funds
• Makes for higher citizen satisfaction levels
• Helps decision makers focus on big picture not
  concerned with budget pennies
• Places increased accountability on Department

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Advantages of Reinventing

• Freedom to manage
• Eliminate nickel and dime budgeting
• Proper policy maker/administrator roles
• Refocus agencys thinking
• Opportunities for prevention
• Controls county expenditures

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Disadvantages of Reinventing

• Limited new funding from county
• Surplus funds mandates
• Out of sight, out of mind
• Community funding on department head
• Big problem when resources end

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For Information

• Bobby K. Boyd, Director
• Catawba County Social Services
• P.O. Box 669
• Newton, NC 28658
• Telephone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email Bobby_at_catawbacountync.gov