Measuring What Matters: The Value of Performance Measurement and Benchmarking in Municipal Government

May 28

Municipal governments are on the front lines of service delivery. From maintaining roads and parks to providing public safety and social programs, people rely on these essential services every day. Without clear, reliable and transparent information, residents can’t see whether these essential services are effective, efficient, or improving; and likewise, municipal leaders are unable to explain why or why not their programs and services are working.

The value of performance measurement builds two-way accountability. Think about a new quarterback on your favourite football team. Measuring his performance isn’t just about giving the coach numbers to look at, it’s about accountability in two directions. The team needs those metrics to know whether their strategy is working: are the plays turning into points? is the quarterback improving? is the quarterback the key factor in helping the team win? At the same time, the fans need those same numbers to judge whether they should show up on Sunday and cheer for their beloved QB or instead boo him off the field and start demanding trades!

Without performance data, the team can’t improve, and the fans can’t trust. Municipal services work the same way insofar as transparency and accountability go both ways in local government. Leaders need measurement to refine strategy and make better decisions, while residents need transparency to know whether their tax dollars are actually delivering results. Just as a quarterback is accountable to both his teammates and the fans, municipalities are accountable both internally and to the public they serve. This two-way accountability builds trust and allows voters to stay informed to assess whether they should re-elect their high performing councillor or throw the suckers out every four years.

All too often, municipal leaders see investment in performance measurement and assessment as a rigid trade-off between putting their limited budgets into admin costs v. program costs, diverting valuable funds from “real programs” to bureaucratic overhead. In other words, every dollar spent on measuring performance is seen as a dollar taken away from direct service delivery.

While that might be a convenient narrative, it’s flawed at its core because it illogically assumes a zero-sum game. Naïve managers view the budget pie as fixed, whereas if you take out a slice for measurement, programs inevitably shrink. This is false. In reality, performance measurement is a positive-sum game where smart investments don’t take away; rather, they multiply results.

Efficiency gains expand capacity. By spotting waste, duplication, or misallocated resources, measurement frees up dollars that can go directly back into programs
Better decisions prevent costly mistakes. Without data, well-intentioned programs can spend heavily on things that don’t work. Measurement ensures every dollar counts.
Transparency builds trust and support. When residents can see results, they’re more likely to back continued or even increased investment—effectively growing the municipal pie

Performance measurement is not bureaucracy; rather, it a tool that allows municipalities to deliver more for less. It turns the flawed “budget tug-of-war” logic on its head, showing that investing in insight and accountability actually strengthens services and outcomes. For those clinging to the old zero-sum mindset and still treating measurement as a drain on your budget, my message to you is straight forward: rip the GPS out of your car and see how fast you get to your next destination!

Performance Measurement: More Than Numbers

When people hear the term performance measurement, the first reaction is often dismissive. To the uninitiated, it can sound like nothing more than a bean counting exercise, with vague imagery of bureaucrats competing in some kind of spreadsheet Olympics. And to be fair, if performance measurement stopped at tallying numbers, they’d be right. But that’s a myth—and a dangerous one.

Performance measurement is more than compiling statistics. It is the discipline of understanding how programs and services are performing, identifying opportunities for improvement, and ensuring accountability to residents. At it’s core, it’s about understanding people and processes.

Good performance measurement gives leaders insight into what’s working, what’s not, and how to make evidence-based decisions about resource allocation. It ensures programs aren’t just running, but running well. Done properly, it shifts the focus from outputs such as “how many potholes were filled” to outcomes that ask question like “are residents satisfied with the state of local roads?”

Benchmarking: Learning from Others

Benchmarking builds on measurement by allowing municipalities to compare their results with peers or established standards. It is also the key exercise in providing context through helping leaders see whether they are ahead of, behind, or in line with others.

When used strategically, benchmarking becomes more than a technical exercise. It sparks innovation and drives operational excellence. By turning raw data into actionable intelligence, benchmarking empowers municipal professionals to uncover new solutions, solve problems in creative ways, and continuously improve. The focus isn’t on blame, instead it’s on raising the bar across the sector and achieving better outcomes for residents.

What’s in it for Me?

Improved Accountability

Benchmarking helps municipalities demonstrate value for money. By tracking and publishing performance data, residents can see how tax dollars are spent and the tangible difference municipal programs make in their communities. This transparency builds trust and shows that the municipality is delivering real results. Municipal dashboards are becoming commonplace across the country.

Better Decision-Making

If you’ve ever spoken the municipal leaders, they will tell you one of the most challenging part of their jobs is the scarcity of resources. Evidence-based insights lead to stronger priorities and equips Council and municipal staff with reliable data so they can make decisions grounded in facts rather than assumptions which help allocate those scarce resources where they will have the most impact.

Shared Learning

Benchmarking allows municipalities to adopt best practices from peers. Instead of reinventing the wheel, municipal leaders can learn from higher-performing communities, shortening the time it takes to diagnose problems, develop solutions, and improve results.

Opportunity for Innovation

Performance data often uncovers unexpected insights. Municipalities may rethink entire service-delivery models once benchmarking shows that older approaches no longer meet community needs. For example, one municipality used benchmarking data to progressively queue the redesign of its library services informing staff where and when to start expanding its digital offerings at local library locations.

Assessing True Community Impact

Numbers matter most when they translate into quality-of-life improvements. By measuring performance, municipalities can focus on initiatives with the greatest effect on residents. One transit department, for instance, used rideshare trip data from its licensing division to identify where to expand bus routes which avoided guesswork to inform its public consultation and prioritizing areas with the highest community impact.

Shameless Self Aggrandisement

If you aren’t convinced by the efficiency arguments, the need for added transparency or the chance to innovate I fully recommend you be selfish and embrace performance measurement because you can make yourself look good!

From my own experience leading teams responsible for measuring the performance of programs, policies, strategies and even entire departments, I have seen a recurring challenge across local governments (something that doesn’t exist in the private sector) where a company is always eager to tell you how its product is ‘the lowest cost’ or ‘the best quality.’

Municipal governments often do excellent work, yet they struggle to find concrete and compelling ways to share their successes. As a result, often much of the positive impact they deliver goes unnoticed or underappreciated. Performance measurement and benchmarking address this gap by helping tell the story of municipal achievements and demonstrate the value of local services.

Ultimately, performance measurement and benchmarking are about making government work better for people. By adopting these practices, municipalities can showcase the great work they already do, strengthen trust with residents, and prepare themselves to deliver even greater value in the future.

Greg Witt