Taking Stock: What Have We Learned So Far

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Taking StockWhat Have We Learned So Far?

• Wisconsin Governors Blue-Ribbon Commission
• on State-Local Partnerships for the 21st Century
• May 23, 2000
• Don Kettl
• Commission Chair

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Big Picture

• Define our brand name
• Identify the problems we should solve
• Use the brand name to craft solutions
• Use the solutions to define roles, functions
• Use roles, functions to shape budget

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1. Brand Name
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Brand Name

• What should be the theme?
• What values should we promote?

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Brand Name Options

• Put citizens at the center of government again
• One Wisconsin governments work together to serve
  needs of citizens
• Celebrateand updatethe Wisconsin tradition

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2. Identify the Problems To Solve
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What Problems Should We Solve?

• Values
• Preserveand updatethe Wisconsin Progressive
  tradition
• Economy
• Equip Wisconsin governments to build a 21st
  century economy
• Information technology
• Keep Wisconsin governments at the vanguard of
  change
• Citizenship
• Make citizens the center of governance again
• Transparency/simplicity
• Promote accountability by streamlining system

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3. Solutions
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Solutions Middle-Range

• Collaborative service delivery
• Information technology
• Citizens Charter
• E-governance
• Government as model

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Collaborative Service Delivery

• Citizens want problems solved
• Citizens dont want to hear, Its not my job!
• No problem that matters stays within boundaries

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Encouraging Collaboration

• Build problem-based approaches
• Create incentives for action
• Remove disincentives that discourage collaboration

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Information Technology

• New challenges of information age
• On the Microsoft case . . . the White House
  and Congress will soon be grappling with a new
  political agenda stuffed with issues that many of
  them dont really understand, and that arent
  being discussed much in this years campaigns.
  Speed, volatility, and indifference to national
  borders are the key attributes of this growing
  crop of New Economy issues. But Washington, with
  its culture of consultation, deliberation,
  special-interest paralysis and the pre-eminence
  of nationhood, is poorly suited to resolving the
  conflicts that are arising.
• Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2000

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Boundary Spanning

• IT gt virtual restructuring?
• Flexible, problem-based collaboration
• Different collaborations for different problems?
• Purchase of service arrangements
• Technology eases service-based collaboration?

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Citizens Charter

• What services should Wisconsin citizens have the
  right to expect?
• How can they know that they receive high-quality
  services at reasonable cost?

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E-Governance

• Strategy single point of contact for citizens
• My California
• Web-based information keyed to key life events,
  like auto registration, license renewal, traffic
  fines, ratings of auto insurers
• Virginia
• Tailor web site to fit each citizens needs
  when to renew fishing license, drivers
  licenseand transact business from home
• Portal link to public and private sector
• Goal seamless collaboration
• Web-based procurement
• Goal smart government

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Government as Model

• Can we make government the model of the processes
  and themes in which we believe?
• Remove statutory barriers to effective
  performance
• Create incentives for high-performance government

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4. Roles and Functions
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Options

• Redrawing boundaries
• Sorting out
• Performance
• Market basket

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1. Redrawing Boundaries

• Horse-and-buggy government boundaries dont fit
  the information age
• Redraw boundaries to fit new realities
• Areas of shared resources (water
  basins/ecosystems)
• Areas of shared economic interest
• Areas of shared identity
• Citizens deserve local governmentbut pick one!

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2. Sorting Out

• Determine which level of government ought to
  perform which function, then
• Government that spends the money raises the taxes
• Decentralize state tax sources to local
  governments
• or . . .
• Level tax capacity differences among local
  governments
• Centralize taxing, spending to state government

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3. Performance

• Link state funding with local results
• Create performance partnerships to link state
  aids with local results
• Identify best practices
• Create financial incentives for high performance

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4. Market-Basket Approach

• Badger Birthright
• Guarantee every citizen a collection of services
• State agrees to pay for these services
• Local governments have options to add to the
  basket
• Money follows citizens
• Alternative to giving money to governments or
  bureaucracies

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Market-Basket Options

• Supply-side
• Government provides the market basket (quality
  education, clean environment, safe streets, . . .
  )
• Demand-side
• Government equalizes citizens ability to buy the
  market basketthrough government or through
  private, nonprofit sectors
• Safety net
• State government ensures minimum service level to
  indemnify citizens against accident of birth or
  location

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Options
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5. Budget
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Funding Flows

• Choose the options,
• shape the budget