Springfield wins Municipal Leadership award (Boston: health insurance, homes, transfer)

[WestMass79]

Congrats to Springfield:

Urban Compass | Blog Archive | Springfield Receives Municipal Leadership Award

Fresh from the approval of a balanced fiscal budget for 2008, Springfield is the recipient of the 2007 Municipal Leadership Award presented by the Boston-based, non-profit Pioneer Institute, apparently in relation to its 16th annual Better Government Competition, which showcases innovative, concrete ideas to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of government in the state.

The award recognizes Springfield’s progress and innovation in municipal operations, and will be presented during a sold-out banquet on Tuesday, June 26 at Hyatt Regency Boston, with Governor Deval Patrick in attendance. Mayor Charles Ryan will be there to receive the award on behalf of the city and the Finance Control Board. The event is expected to be covered by C-SPAN Radio and other as yet unspecified media outlets.

According to control board executive director Philip Puccia’s recent memo to the board, issued in tandem with the city’s new budget, an aggressive reform approach has affected Springfield’s finances, administration, public safety and schools, summarized in the memo as follows:

Health insurance plan design changes and the transfer of city employee and retiree health insurance to the Group Insurance Commission. This year, the increase in health insurance rates is only four percent, compared to the city’s historical annual 18 percent increase.

Adoption of Chapter 32B Section 18 of the Massachusetts General Laws which makes Medicare the primary payer of retiree health insurance costs, saving $18.7 million for the city and retirees over a three year period (FY06 – FY08).

Successful negotiation and implementation of all city and School Department labor contracts, most of which are long-term contracts, and all of which provide for improved departmental management and predictable, affordable wage increases.

Implementation of MUNIS, an integrated financial management system, for the city and School Department. This system will improve accountability and transparency, streamline inefficient processes and eliminate the vast majority of (often redundant) manual processing for municipal processes.

Collection of $25.8 million in overdue taxes, including fees and related interest charges.

Transfer of Retirement System assets to the Commonwealth’s Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, a decision which increased retirement system earnings by $25 million in one year, compared to the city’s prior investment performance.

Implementation of performance-based budgeting to increase the accountability and efficiency of service output.

Utilization of a comprehensive payroll system that has improved efficiency, reliability and has helped us to improve many other areas of municipal operation.

Increase in the size of the city’s Police Department and Fire Department through hiring, and by transferring dozens of sworn personnel from desk duty to street patrol and fire suppression duties.

Significant investment in a system to track and manage repairs in the city’s infrastructure of parks, schools and other municipal buildings.

Pioneer Institute’s executive director Jim Stergios said: "Hard to imagine just a couple of years ago that we can now say without any possibility that someone would laugh—the City of Homes is the best managed large city in the Commonwealth. And with Ed Flynn at the helm of the Springfield Police, there is confidence that the public safety issues are going to be given the right kind of attention.

[cosmonewman]

LOL! The city is in receivership and is run by an outside control board.

[Parsec]

That's why it's so well managed now -- it's not run by politicians.