Report to/Rapport au:
Finance and Economic Development Committee
Comité des finances et du développement
économique
and Council / et au Conseil
28 January 2011 / le 28 janvier 2011
Submitted by/Soumis par:
Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
City Operations/Opérations municipales
Contact Person/Personne-ressource :
Donna Gray, Director/directrice
Organizational Development
and Performance/
Service du développement et du rendement organisationnels
613‑580‑2424, ext./poste 25684
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SUBJECT:
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OMBI 2009 PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKING REPORT - INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTAL TO THE BUDGET ESTIMATES |
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OBJET :
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That the Financial and Economic Development Committee and Council receive this report as supplemental information to the 2011 Draft Budget.
Recommandation
du rapport
Que le
Comité des finances et du développement économique et le Conseil prennent
connaissance de ce rapport à titre d’information supplémentaire au budget
préliminaire de 2011.
BACKGROUND
On January 28, 2011, the Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI) releases its OMBI 2009 Performance Benchmarking Report.
The Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative is a groundbreaking collaboration between 15 Ontario municipalities that represent 9.65 million citizens or 73 per cent of Ontario’s population. Ottawa has been a member of this benchmarking initiative since 2004. The initiative is led by the Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) and City Managers in each participating municipality. OMBI fosters a culture of service excellence in municipal government by creating new ways to measure, share and compare performance statistics and operational practices. OMBI acts as a source of credible information to assist Council, staff and citizens to understand how their municipality is performing over time and in relation to others.
The City will use this information to make improvements and to make better decisions that will lead to better value delivered to the public we serve.
DISCUSSION
The OMBI 2009 Performance Benchmarking Report presents three years’ worth of performance results (2007, 2008 and 2009) for 27 key public facing services, and describes some factors that influence the delivery of these services. The City of Ottawa provides all 27 services and has submitted data to support all of the OMBI measures for these services.
As a supplement to the OMBI 2009 Performance Benchmarking Report, a City of Ottawa Results Dashboard has been prepared by City staff and provides Ottawa’s benchmarked performance in a local context in relation to the OMBI median, and includes comments from service areas on their respective results.
This is the first time that OMBI is presenting information for the area of Information Technology.
The 2009 report indicates that Ottawa’s performance compared well to other Ontario municipalities and that Ottawa’s 2009 performance has remained relatively stable compared to the 2008 results.
Where Ottawa is doing well
Areas where Ottawa was among the leaders, has had growth over the past few years, and where Ottawa is doing substantially better than the median:
Fire: The number of residential structural fires with losses per 1,000 households in the rural areas (1.2) is 25% below the OMBI median, which is the lowest rate among OMBI municipalities.
Transit: Ottawa has the second-highest number of conventional transit trips per capita in its service area (105 trips) which is 200% above the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa also has the highest number of passenger trips per in-service vehicle hour (51 trips) which is 76% above the OMBI median for 2009.
Information Technology: Ottawa has the second-highest number of visits to a municipal website per capita (41.8 visits) which is 121% above the OMBI median for 2009.
Parks: The City of Ottawa maintains 396 hectares of parkland per 100,000 residents, which is 38% above the OMBI median for 2009.
Libraries: Electronic uses per capita (9.5 in 2009) in Ottawa’s libraries have increased by 36% since 2007, and have had the largest increase of all municipalities from 2008 to 2009 (22%).
Emergency Medical Services (EMS): Code 4 (highest priority calls) dispatch times (2:25) were 9% below the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa was also well below (27%) the OMBI median for 2007. EMS did not report for 2008 due to data quality issues.
Facilities: Ottawa has the second-highest rentable square footage of office buildings managed by Facilities (1,078,985) which is 211% above the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa’s operating cost per rentable square foot of office buildings managed by Facilities ($10.69) is 17% below the median for 2009.
Roads: The percentage of paved-lane kilometres where the condition is rated as good to very good (86%) is 65% above the OMBI median for 2009.
General revenue: The total percentage of general revenues billed (27%) by the City of Ottawa is 35% above the OMBI median for 2009, which represents an increase of 17% from 2008’s results. The City of Ottawa’s average collection period (33 days) for general revenues is 31% faster than that of other Ontario municipalities.
Emergency hostels: There are 108 emergency shelter beds available per 100,000 population, which is 218% above the OMBI median for 2009. This is consistent in comparison to other large municipalities like Toronto and London.
Social assistance: Ottawa has the lowest social assistance response time to client eligibility days (4.5 days) which is 35% below the OMBI median for 2009. The Province has a standard of four days from the time the person applies for social assistance to a decision of eligibility. Ottawa was the closest (4.5 days) of all municipalities to achieving this standard.
Provincial Offences Act (POA): Ottawa has the lowest operating cost of POA services per charge filed ($14.79) which is 74% below the OMBI median for 2009.
Licensing: The number of licenses issued per 100,000 population (1,437) is at the OMBI median for 2009. The number of licenses issued has increased 15% since 2007.
Culture: Ottawa continues to be well above the median for arts grants per capita ($4.83), which is 48% above the OMBI median for 2009. In 2007 Ottawa was 11% above the OMBI median and 32% above in 2008.
Taxation: The City of Ottawa’s 2009 tax arrears as a percentage of current year levy (1.7%) is 43% below the OMBI median for 2009 and has decreased by 37% since 2007.
Water: The number of megalitres of treated water per 100,000 population (11,757) is 17% lower than the OMBI median in 2009. The number of megalitres of treated water per 100,000 population has decreased 12% since 2008.
Legal: Ottawa has the second-lowest in-house legal operating cost per in-house lawyer hour ($127/hour) which is 9% below the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa has the second-lowest external legal cost per external lawyer hour ($218/hour) which is 34% below the OMBI median for 2009.
Childcare: The percentage of childcare spaces that are subsidized (28%) is 47% above the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa continues to be well above the median in this measure, with results of 71% above the OMBI median in 2008 and 129% above in 2007.
By-law: The enforcements cost for all specified by-laws per capita ($6.32) is 25% below the OMBI medium for 2009. Ottawa continues to be well below the median in this measure with results of 23% below the OMBI median in 2008 and 27% below in 2007.
Human resources: Ottawa has the lowest percentage of municipal employee voluntary permanent separations per average permanent employee head count in 2009 (2.0%), which is 41% below the OMBI median.
Police: Ottawa continues to be among the safest large urban centres in Ontario, with the rate of reported violent incidents consistently well below the OMBI median. The reported number of violent Criminal Code incidents per 100,000 population (648) was 31% below the median in 2009. The reported number of total non-traffic Criminal Code incidents per 100,000 population (4,359) was 17% below the OMBI median for 2009, which represents a drop of 16% since 2007.
Sports and recreation: Ottawa has the highest number of participant visits per capita (2.1) for directly provided registered programs and is 50% above the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa has the highest annual number of unique users for directly provided registered programs as a percentage of the population (14.6%) which is 118% above the OMBI median for 2009.
Buildings: New residential units created per 100,000 population (641) is 107% above the OMBI medium for 2009. Ottawa continues to be well above the median in this measure, with results of 79% above the OMBI median in 2008 and 68% above in 2007.
Social housing: The number of social housing units available per 1,000 households (59) is 34% above the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa continues to be well above the median for this measure with results of 36% above the OMBI median in 2008 and 32% above in 2007.
Wastewater: The operating cost of wastewater treatment and disposal per megalitre treated ($144) was 45% below the OMBI median for 2009.
Areas where Ottawa is worse than the median and there are opportunities for improvement. There are many factors that influence the performance such as geographic size, age of infrastructure, weather patterns and policies. As a result, in some instances situations unique to Ottawa have influenced our performance in comparison to other municipalities in Ontario.
Waste management: Ottawa has the second-lowest percentage of residential solid waste diverted – residential (33%) which is 31% below the OMBI median for 2009. However, with the implementation of the Green Bin program in 2010, this percentage has increased to 42% in Q3 of 2010.
Transit: Transit operating cost per vehicle in-service hour ($170) was 63% above the OMBI median for 2009. Operating costs in Ottawa are higher as service is extended further, and very extensive area coverage is maintained. For 2009, operating costs increased further as a result of the service disruption during winter conditions and subsequent gradual return to service (Impacted by 35 days of strike and limited return to service for 54 days - until March 31, 2009).
Sports and recreation: Ottawa has the second-lowest number of operational outdoor pool locations with municipal influence per 100,000 population (1.0), which is 57% below the OMBI median for 2009. PRCS will have the following new aquatic facilities: New East End Pool (2012); New Kanata North Complex (2012); South Barrhaven New Pool (planned for 2014).
Planning: Ottawa has the lowest percentage of development applications meeting Planning Act timeframes (71%), which is 26% below the OMBI median in 2009. Timelines are impacted by many factors, including the level of complexity, extent of public involvement, the issues, and the number and frequency of Committee and Council meetings. The Department is undertaking an 18-month review of the One Stop Service model, which will consider timelines and resourcing. This review will be the subject of a report to Committee and Council in 2011.
Development applications operating cost per application received ($16,496) is 71% above the OMBI median for 2009. The Ottawa and median results are higher than in previous years, in part due to mandated changes in the reporting of financial information. In addition, Ottawa’s planning operating costs and development planning application costs are higher than the median for other single tier municipalities due to organizational differences. In 2009, as part of a corporate reorganization, additional functional areas were consolidated to create the One Stop Service model. These functional areas are not all reflected in the costs for other municipalities.
Parking: Ottawa has the lowest-number of paid parking spaces managed per 100,000 population (762 spaces) which is 46% below the OMBI median for 2009. Ottawa has the second-highest parking services operating cost per paid parking space managed ($994) which is 49% above the OMBI median for 2009. However, Ottawa has the second-highest gross parking revenue collected per paid parking space ($2,394) which is 164% above the OMBI median for 2009.
Social assistance: Ottawa has the second-highest average time on social assistance (18 months), which is 35% above the OMBI median for 2009. For 2008 Ottawa was 41% above the median and was also the second highest. However, the average length of time on social assistance for Ottawa has decreased by 2.5 months from 2008 to 2009.
Long-Term Care (LTC): Ottawa has the second-lowest LTC resident satisfaction rate (91%); however, this is only 4% below the OMBI median for 2009.
Looking Forward
Performance benchmarking helps us identify areas where we are doing well and areas where improvements are needed. Representatives from each member municipality meet as a group (the OMBI Management Committee) throughout the year. These representatives serve as the intermediary between their municipal experts and their financial experts to lead this benchmarking initiative.
OMBI is growing. The City of Calgary and Winnipeg have joined OMBI and, although they have provided their performance data for many service areas, they are not included in the 2009 report. The City of Edmonton and Kingston have also expressed interest in participating in this initiative.
OMBI will continue to develop and advance the culture of performance benchmarking in each municipality to ensure there is trust and confidence in the data collected and to establish better practices.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no specific rural implications associated with this report.
No consultation was undertaken in the preparation of this information report.
There are no legal/risk management implications associated with this report.
There are no financial implications associated with this report.
Document 1: OMBI 2009 Performance Benchmarking Report (Issued separately)
Document 2: City of Ottawa 2009 Results Dashboard (Issued separately) (English/French)
The OMBI 2009 Performance Benchmarking Report will be made available to citizens electronically in PDF format on our Web site (ottawa.ca).
Staff will action any direction received as part of consideration of this report.