"With this report, state officials and citizens can
identify the management systems that are working well and areas that need
improvement," says Dale Jones, director of the Government Performance
Project (GPP) at The Maxwell School. "States can also use the report to
learn from each other, adapting good ideas that result in higher performance to
their own systems."
New York's evaluations in all five categories covered by the
GPP improved. In capital management its grade was a C- in 1999. It was a C+ this
year. The state's grade rose from a C to a C+ in human
resources; from a D+ to a C- in managing for results; and from a C to a B in
information technology. Perhaps most notable was the change in the state's
financial management grade, from a D+ to a C+. As Governing's report about the
state indicated, "New York's financial numbers look better than they have
in quite awhile. The budget at the end of fiscal 2000 had an unreserved balance
of $1.8 billion, compared with deficits in the mid-to late 1990s."
"Of course, New York still has a long way to go--in part
to make up for bad fiscal habits in the past," says Katherine Barrett,
special projects editor for Governing. "But it's certainly heading in the
right direction."
The state's highest grade was a B in information technology,
where efforts to rationalize a previously wild array of computer systems is
underway.
