City Council approves funding for a StPeteStat coordinator

Rick Kriseman wants to use a statistical management method to measure how well St. Petersburg's resources are being allocated, and the City Council has agreed to let him hire someone to wrangle the project.

Since his 2013 campaign, Kriseman has proposed implementing StPeteStat, a version of a government accountability and management model used by several cities.

The method uses statistical data gathered about any number of issues — crime, government workers' pay, even garbage collection — and uses it in committees dedicated to finding solutions to specific problems.

Many cities use a form of the program called CompStat (or Computer Statistics), a management model used by New York City police under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Other cities like Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles also use CompStat.

Former Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley used a version called CitiStat after he started his term in 1999. O'Malley, currently a Democratic presidential candidate, considered the program so successful he implemented a version for all of Maryland called StateStat once he was elected governor in 2007, to mixed results.

"Our stat program will not necessarily be based on any one city, but Baltimore's is certainly one model we have looked at," Kriseman communications director Ben Kirby said. "We will figure out what works best for our government."

While some of the data was already being collected through city departments and the Mayor's Action Center, it now looks as if StPeteStat is coming to St. Petersburg in earnest. The 2016 fiscal budget, which was passed by City Council on Sept. 17, 2015, includes $75,000 for a StPeteStat coordinator.

"This position will closely work with the administration to move our organization from simply tracking and reporting key data points to using those data points to guide management decisions," the budget overview reads. "The evolution from performance measurement to management is critical to the city's vision and efficacy."

It appears that choosing a coordinator is a big decision. Back in Baltimore, current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake removed CitiStat Director Mark Grimes in August 2015 after the Baltimore Sun reported CitiStat had staffing problems, didn't publish required reports and canceled a third of its analytical meetings while doubling its budget to $1 million between 2011 and 2014.

The mayor's office said more information on implementing StPeteStat was forthcoming, now that the budget included money to hire a coordinator. While we wait for the program to get up and running, we rate this promise In The Works.