CitiStat Trip for Public Officials

June 2001

In June 2001, the Rappaport Institute arranged a daylong trip to Baltimore to meet with city officials who are pioneering a new way to manage cities - CitiStat. Modeled after CompStat, the program that New York City developed to attack crime with daily tracking of criminal behavior and neighborhood conditions, CitiStat enables Mayor Martin O'Malley and department heads to look at tangible data about government performance in Baltimore. Officials from Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville traveled to Baltimore to learn about CitiStat.

How does CitiStat work? Every day, Baltimore's departments gather data about city workers, housing, playgrounds, streets, railroad crossings, potholes, graffiti, utilities, snow plows and other vehicles, emergency fire calls, leaf collections, parking permits. Departments enter data into a simple computer program and every two weeks produce a 10- to 15-page report for the mayor's staff. The staff briefs the mayor on important trends, trouble spots, and continuing challenges. Department heads take turns on the "hot seat," as they answer questions about the maps, charts, and graphs prepared using the CitiStat software program. By taking a hard look at the data, public managers can focus on improving service delivery in areas where their departments fall short.

In its first eleven months of use, CitiStat has cost Baltimore $285,000 - including four fulltime staffers, computer equipment and software, and new furniture for the CitiStat room. Not counting improved service delivery, officials estimate savings of $13.2 million - $6 million in overtime, $5 million in reduced costs and increased revenues, and $1.2 million in reduced absenteeism.

Officials from the Greater Boston delegation vow to bring the tool home. "Baltimore has raised the bar on municipal government management," said Somerville's Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay after the Baltimore trip. "In a short period of time, they have improved the efficiency of city services, reduced costs, and made City Hall more accountable to citizens. We will be taking a close look at how elements of CitiStat could be adopted here in Somerville in the near future."