Simplified gainsharing within a traditional line-item budget.

• Author: Scheps, Philip B.
• Position: Municipal governance in Dallas County, TX

Dallas County, Texas, has historically been a stable, successful, and financially strong county with a tradition of outstanding credit ratings (AAA/Aaa), low taxes, high citizen satisfaction, longevity among elected officials and senior management, and a low profile. This success notwithstanding, the Dallas County style has reflected the type of centralized management (i.e., lots of rules and line items) that has recently come under fire as a prescription for noninnovative, moribund, and inefficient government. As a result, the Dallas County Commissioners Court began to investigate methods of prudently "loosening up" some aspects of centralized control without fully upsetting a management/budget structure that has proven successful.

For readers unfamiliar with the organization and role of county government in Texas, it should be noted that counties work in an environment of 1) many elected officials, 2) missions substantially prescribed by state law, and 3) most revenue sources (other than property taxes) originating with the state legislature. Individuals familiar with city government will need to keep in mind that there is nothing akin to a city manager hierarchy in Texas county government. Although the five-member commissioners court is vested with general budgetary authority over other departments, most large departments are headed by elected officials.

Departmental Discretionary Accounts

Dallas County's approach to motivating its department heads has been to create an incentive - a departmental discretionary account (DDA) within each department's approved FY1997 line-item budget. This line item may be increased by management action, spent more or less at will by the department head, and carried over year to year. The DDA is an attempt to encourage entrepreneurial budgeting without drastically changing the familiar budgetary accounting that has worked in a satisfactory manner for years.

The DDA is seeded each year with an amount that ranges from $500 to $10,000 depending on the size of the department. Department heads may spend from their DDA with virtually no approval needed, assuming general guidelines are met, on such nonrecurring expenditures as travel, amenities, tuition reimbursement, suggestion awards, performance rewards, overtime, and professional service contracts. The general guidelines are very non-constraining (e.g., no international or first-class travel), and the department head's certification of compliance with these...