Businesses deliver value to customers through the very clear feedback loop of payment: if the business provides values, customers pay; if it doesn’t, they don’t.
Such a feedback loop does not exist with government: customers (or “taxpayers”) are compelled to pay. As a result, government is able to be very wasteful and often fail to deliver high value per dollar to taxpayers. As we contend with budgets deficits and grave economic needs at federal, state and local government levels, this issue of value delivery is exacerbated.
A recent report from the University of Denver Strategic Issues program provides an encouraging direction to contend with this issue. The DU program brings together a non-partisan group of leaders to wrestle with the state’s major issues. And the central message of their report is that government needs to clearly communicate the value it delivers to taxpayers. Specifically it recommends the creation of a Taxpayer Value Council that:
would assess major state services in terms of cost/capita, cost/taxpayer, satisfaction levels, program outcomes, levels of public subsidy and other measures that would be meaningful to taxpayers. For example, the Taxpayer Value Council could provide information on the per capita cost of highway maintenance or the relationship between K-12 costs per taxpayer and student achievement. The council could analyze the cost per taxpayer of operating correctional facilities, hearing court cases, operating public health programs and other areas of state government. In addition to presenting current information about value, the council would provide data allowing taxpayers to see trends over time and review benchmark information comparing Colorado with other states.
The sheer size of government, even at the state and local level, makes its operations and finances difficult for taxpayers to comprehend. The approach this report advocates is a great way to remedy that and improve the value we all receive per tax dollar.
I’m excited to see such ideas emerging in my home state. While the federal government appears so screwed up that progress seems impossible, making a difference here in Colorado seems feasible and I hope to become more involved in the solution.
Image of the Colorado State Capitol courtesy of TTVo via Flickr
