Institutional Performance: Local Government
One measure of local government performance is efficiency.
Roadway Expenditures Per Capita, 2002
View data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
all levels of local governments in each metro, including special districts.
Despite the fact that the Kansas City region contains more centerline miles of roadway per capita than any of its peers, its per capita local government spending on road construction and maintenance is in the middle of its peer group. This suggests the region is relatively efficient at maintaining its roadways.
Roadway Expenditures Per Centerline Mile, 2002
View data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
Indeed, at less than $40,000 per centerline mile, metropolitan Kansas City's expenditures are near the bottom of its peers.
Relative Efficiency of Maintaining Streets, 2005
Selected Cities within the Kansas City Region
View
data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
A recent series in The Kansas City Star examining local government efficiency compared inputs, (in terms of the level of staff and expenditures), with outputs (such as miles of streets treated or resurfaced). The scores for each city were expressed as a ratio to the most efficient, so that a higher ratio means a less efficient city and the most efficient receives a score of 1.0.
Shawnee, Prairie Village, Kansas City, Mo., Lee's Summit and Leavenworth all tied for most efficient. The performances of the Unified Government, Raytown, Lenexa and Liberty were virtually indistinguishable from the leaders.
Quality of Roadways By Metro, 2003
Percent of Roads Rated in "Poor" Condition
View
data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
Strategies to Make Our Roads Smoother, May 2005
Efficiency is only one-half of the equation, however. The other half is quality. The physical condition of roads in the Kansas City area appears to be significantly worse than most of its peers, according to a recent study by TRIP, a national transportation research group. They estimate that 71 percent of the region's roads were in poor condition in 2003. (This report was not received without some controversy over its accuracy, however.)
Quality of Roadways By State, 2004
Percent of Roads Rated in "Poor" Condition
View
data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
While the level of disrepair may be in dispute, the ranking and relative disparity in roadway quality is confirmed by data from the Federal Highway Administration as reported by the states. Kansas and Missouri have double the percentage of roads in poor condition compared to the states containing the Kansas City region's peers.
Citizen Satisfaction with Road Maintenance and City Taxes,
Selected Cities in KC Metro Area
View
data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
of the individual local governments, various years. Data was not available
for Blue Springs regarding satisfaction with value of city taxes.
There is evidence that people care more about quality than efficiency. Even though Kansas City, Mo., and Lee's Summit are tops in road maintenance efficiency, they are at the bottom in terms of citizen satisfaction with the roadways themselves.
Conversely, while Overland Park and Olathe perform near the bottom on efficiency, they are near the top in terms of citizen satisfaction.
Interestingly, there is a stronger correlation between perceived value of city taxes and the level of satisfaction than there is with efficiency.
Law Enforcement
Expenditures on Police Per Capita, 2002
View data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
Given the importance of personal safety, efficiency concerns often take a back seat when it comes to police. In this case, the Kansas City region appears to be a big spender. At $200 per person, the region's local governments are ranked second among metro peers in spending, on a per capita basis. Only Denver spends more, perhaps due to its more tourism-based economy.
Police Expenditures/Central City Violent Crime
Vs. Violent Crime Rate, 2002-2004
View
data in .xls format
Rate the KC region | Comment on this indicator
When evaluated on a per-violent-crime basis, however, it is apparent the Kansas City region is spending significantly less than most of its peers. While there is a striking correlation between greater spending per violent crime and less crime, it is easy to confuse cause and effect here. It is not that greater spending necessarily leads to less crime. Rather, regions where minority poverty is less concentrated generally have less violent crime, so that average-sized budgets on a per capita basis look like large expenditures on a per violent crime basis.
In the Kansas City area, despite relatively high budgets, the racial pattern of poverty overwhelms the available resources, producing a relatively high violent crime rate despite best efforts. Those efforts are sufficient to reduce the violent crime rate below that of St. Louis, but not enough to catch up to its more equitable peers.
Next: Public Schools
"Institutional Performance" main page | Indicators
main page