Improving Local Government Performance through Benchmarking

David N. Ammons is Albert Coates Professor Emeritus of Public Administration and Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He has written and taught about benchmarking, performance measurement and management, and productivity improvement in local government. For 25 years, he served as a faculty advisor to the North Carolina Benchmarking Project. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and has served on the National Performance Management Advisory Commission and the North Carolina Governor’s Advisory Committee on Performance Management. He is a member of the Credentialing Advisory Board of the International City/County Management Association.

Ammons has delivered a remarkable analysis of performance improvement. Improving Local Government Performance Through Benchmarking identifies dozens of concerns that must be addressed if a measurement effort is to produce performance improvements, as promised to the community. His volume is a tour de force, an unrivaled resource that is the missing link between comparative performance measurement and service improvement. It is every local government’s best investment.Marc Holzer, Distinguished Research Professor, Suffolk University, and founder of the National Center for Public PerformanceThis book is an evidence-based how-to guide to benchmarking. Its engaging writing is informative and replete with inspiring examples. Ammons distills academic research into actionable insights, blending pragmatism, experience, and wisdom.Étienne Charbonneau, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Public Management, École nationale d’administration publique (Montreal, QC) Professor David Ammons, who could be called Doctor Benchmarking for his esteemed career in the field, has peeled back another insightful layer in the search for improved government performance. By spotlighting best practice benchmarking (versus metrics benchmarking), he parallels the evolution of performance measurement into performance management and encourages us to use best practices to actually make improvements!Michael Jacobson, Deputy Director of the King County (Washington) Office of Performance, Strategy, and Budget and National Academy of Public Administration FellowDr. Ammons delivers an exceptional book arguing the value of benchmarking for helping administrators and elected officials improve their public services. The book will appeal to public management students while the lessons and examples will also aid managers looking for steps they can take to integrate these practices into their normal operations.David Swindell, Director of the Center for Urban Innovation in the School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, and Director of Valley Benchmark CommunitiesImproving Local Government Performance through Benchmarking outlines a comprehensive overview of best practice benchmarking – often referred to as “process benchmarking” or “ideas benchmarking” – in a way that is both theoretically rigorous for those who study and teach in the realm of local government and public finance, yet is practically grounded for managers, supervisors, and budget directors who wish to implement best practices oriented towards achieving better outcomes in public organizations. In all, this book provides a much-needed service by filling a gap in the literature, establishing a framework for scholars who wish to conduct further research on benchmarking, while also challenging local leaders to adopt a more comprehensive orientation to performance management and strategic decision-making in a way that is both approachable and actionable.In all, Improving Local Government Performance through Benchmarking is an approachable, practical guide for those working in local government, researching it, or preparing students for careers in local government… It is a vital resource for understanding, framing, and avoiding many of the common challenges faced by local governments wishing to develop or improve upon their existing benchmarking and performance management initiatives.Acuff, C. Improving Local Government Performance Through Benchmarking. Public Finance Journal 2026 https://doi.org/10.59469/pfj.2026.88

• 1. Introduction Part I: Benchmarking Overview 2. Benchmarking as a Management Concept 3. Benchmarking in Local Government Part II: Metrics Benchmarking 4. Strategic Choices: Tensions/Decisions at Play in Metrics Benchmarking Initiatives 5. Responses to Metrics Benchmarking Data: Managers, Politicians, and Citizens 6. Metrics Benchmarking Results Part III: Best Practice Benchmarking 7. Vanilla Is Not Benchmarking’s Only Flavor 8. Best Practice Benchmarking in Action Part IV: Issues in Benchmarking 9. Learning, Yes, but also Unlearning 10. Common Preference for Benchmarking with Similar Organizations 11. What’s the Objective? A Management Report Card or Performance Improvement? 12. Defensiveness in Response to Benchmarking Scores 13. Benchmarking as a Defense Mechanism 14. Is Isomorphism a Threat? 15. Recognition Programs as Quasi-Benchmarking 16. Misapplication of the Benchmarking Label Part V: The Leadership Imperative 17. Leadership for Benchmarking 18. Conclusion