ABSTRACT
A simple definition of performance measurement for governments is the systematic assessment of how well services are being delivered to a community-both how efficiently and how effectively. This overview of performance measurement in local government covers four topics: the criteria for selecting measures, the various types of measures that should be considered, the data collection procedures for collecting data on the individual performance measures, and how targets for individual measures might be established. Cost Measures. These measures are simply indicators of dollars spent. It is, of course, legitimate to measure actual costs against budget costs. However, cost measures are normally not included under the label "performance measurement" and, consequently, are not covered in this overview. Employee attitude surveys, however, are not considered part of performance measurement for the purposes of this chapter. In many cases, however, existing data, or the way it is collected or calculated, will have to be at least partly modified for use in performance measurement.
