ABSTRACT
A city or county government that compares its current performance to its own performance in years past can tell whether service is improving, declining, or staying about the same, but such comparisons alone cannot reveal whether performance is good or poor—only whether it is getting better or worse. By benchmarking—comparing current performance with standards or with the performance of other service producers—a government can assess its performance more fully and perhaps can learn some valuable lessons that sometimes lead to performance improvement.
