About this site

Purpose and Scope

This website, King County AIMs High: Annual Indicators and Measures, is designed to provide information to the public about key community-level indicators and county government performance measures. King County is part of a broader national movement throughout all levels of government that is trying innovative approaches to:

1. Use information to assess and improve government performance;
2. Increase transparency and accountability by publicly reporting performance results.

Successful organizations rely on performance measures to inform managers and leaders about how well they are reaching their goals and where improvements can be made. This website is designed to help you explore our community's conditions and King County government's performance and to help you assess what actions the public or government should take. This site was created to increase the use of performance information by residents and public officials in decision-making and public debate.

In line with King County's objective to improve the quality of life for county residents, measures and indicators are organized by the following themes:

1. Natural Resources;
2. Built Environment;
3. Housing & Homelessness;
4. Economic Vitality;
5. Health;
6. Law, Safety and Justice;
7. Accountability & Transparency;
8. Equity & Social Justice.

Why report indicators and performance measures?

Across the U.S., many governments report performance measures that reflect the effectiveness and efficiency of their programs. There are also numerous organizations dedicated to reporting community-level indicators that describe the condition of the community or environment. Very few communities, however, report on both community conditions and agency performance in an integrated way.

King County benefits from the work of local community organizations as well as its own work on indicators. This website maps key county performance measures to relevant community-level indicators to present a holistic picture of community conditions and King County government's efforts to improve those conditions.

The goals of reporting both indicators and measures are:

1. To illustrate how King County's services and performance contribute to community conditions;
2. To demonstrate how the state of the community shapes the county's decision-making and performance;
3. To provide all members of the community (from government, the business community, non-profits, and individual residents) with the opportunity to identify what actions need to be taken to improve community conditions; and
4. To increase access to information and support informed public debate.

Indicators

The indicators reported on this site reflect the condition of the community or the environment. Indicators are influenced by many factors and reflect the combined efforts of multiple jurisdictions and organizations. King County government typically has little control over the status of indicators. The county is, however, one of many actors working to influence each indicator.

In order to provide an overall structure, indicators are grouped into eight themes (such as "built environment"). Each theme is in turn divided into smaller sections. For each section, you will find a discussion of related indicators, what influences those indicators, what role King County government plays in influencing the indicators, as well as links to related county performance measures.

The indicators included in this report were provided by three programs: King County Benchmark Program, Communities Count, and the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. Because indicator data were provided by a number of sources, data collection, methodology, and reporting frequency vary. Historical information is included where available, though reporting years vary. The Technical Notes section on each page includes any relevant information on data collection and analysis for each indicator.

These three sources do not set specific targets for indicators. We also have not set targets on indicators since they represent community conditions beyond the county's span of control and are provided to show a broader context. In most cases, overall trends are more relevant than meeting a specific target since there are so many factors that influence indicators.

Performance Measures

This site also reports performance measures from all branches of King County government. These results are intended to help the public understand and evaluate the county's performance in achieving its goals. The degree of influence varies by measure; in some cases the measure presents a specific program result, in other cases a measure may be the result of multiple agencies' efforts. The county typically has more influence over its performance measures than community-level indicators.

Each performance measure includes a discussion of the significance of the measure, how King County is doing, what else influences the measure, and what the county's strategies are moving forward.

Performance measures presented on this site were developed by managers and staff at many different levels of the organization, with the ultimate goal of trying to define success or progress towards specific department goals and objectives. The majority of the performance data contained on this site has been compiled from department, agency, and office reports, and may include data provided from contracted agency service providers. Original data sources remain in the individual departments.

The results currently reported on this site are primarily effectiveness measures, which reflect the extent to which goals, outcomes, or objectives have been achieved. While citizens are concerned with how successful King County government is at providing services and achieving its goals, they are also interested in the cost and quality of products and services. Future versions of this site will provide a wider variety of measures, including efficiency and service quality measures.

Data are generally presented for the previous three full calendar years. Given that many of the results presented on the site are outcome measures measured annually, this means that most graphs show results through the last calendar year. In some cases, we are able to present first or second quarter data for the current calendar year. Where applicable, target levels, industry standards, or other comparative data are included. The Technical Notes section on each page includes any relevant information on data collection and analysis for each measure.

King County does not formally audit performance measure data. However, normal quality assurance/quality control processes are in place through review by department management, King County's Auditor, the Executive Office, and the Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management.

Public Involvement

In 2008, with support from a Government Performance Reporting Trailblazer Grant by the National Center for Civic Innovation, King County convened two focus groups to gather feedback on what performance information the public wanted to see reported and format ideas for such reports. Two focus groups of King County residents with varying demographic characteristics were convened and provided with three "mock" performance dashboards. Each group provided their opinions on what content they found relevant, what additional information they wanted to see, the format and length of the dashboard reports, and suggestions on how to receive the information. As a direct result of this focus group work, the county is producing a four-page performance dashboard tailored to reflect performance measures of greatest public interest and written in "plain English." King County residents will be informed of the dashboard through media outreach, a Public Service Announcement, and additional marketing through King County's website and social media tools.

Two of the source documents from which many of the indicators are taken, Communities Count and King County Benchmarks, were developed via a public process or with stakeholder input. Communities Count conducted an extensive public process where residents expressed their opinions on what they value and what they are concerned about. Over 1,500 King County residents participated through a random digit dial telephone survey, a series of focus groups, and seven public forums held across the county.

The King County Benchmarks were originally developed via an appointed stakeholder committee that included a diverse membership of elected officials, labor, social service organizations, business, and community non-profit organizations. This committee selected indicators to support the Growth Management Planning Council's assessment of countywide planning policies developed under the state's Growth Management Act. The Growth Management Planning Council is a formal body, consisting of elected officials from King County, Seattle, Bellevue, other cities and towns in King County, special purpose districts, and the Port of Seattle.

In 2007, the Metropolitan King County Council's Citizen Budget Priorities process obtained county residents' views on how to prioritize county services for the budget. Building on this effort, the Executive Office will seek input from a cross section of residents and stakeholders regarding the content, format, and access for Executive branch performance reporting. The input will be used to revise this site and ensure that it is accessible, relevant, understandable, and useful.

Future public engagement opportunities are expected to coincide with the development and adoption of a countywide strategic plan. Starting in 2009, the County Executive began a countywide strategic planning process that influences not only the strategic direction for the county but also the performance measures that county residents believe are relevant to track implementation of the strategic plan.

The Countywide Community Forums provide an additional opportunity for future public engagement. Through this new, innovative public outreach program, issues related to county government performance and budget priorities may emerge that can be reflected in the indicators and measures reflected on this site.

Changes from last year

AIMs High continues to be revised in both form and content. The revisions are intended to increase the usefulness and accessibility of King County performance data and to meet suggested national guidance on performance reporting by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and used by the Association of Government Accountants. Of note this year, AIMs High is being launched in June, rather than in September as an accompaniment to the Executive Proposed Budget. Also, the web-based format has replaced the printed report. The four-page Performance Scorecard is still available in print. Additional changes have been made as discussed below.

Inclusion of non-Executive Department functions. In order to better represent the breadth of county services, this year's AIMs High report includes indicators and measures from all branches of county government. The 2009 report features newly added indicators and measures from:

• The Office of the Assessor
• The Auditor's Office
• The Office of Elections
• The Office of Information and Resource Management
• The Office of the Sheriff
• The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney
• District Court
• Superior Court

Reorganization of AIMs High structure. Inclusion of these new functional areas afforded the opportunity to reorganize the AIMs High structure as follows:

New indicators and measures. Changes to indicators and measures have been made as shown by category below:

• Natural Resources
  • Removed: biodiesel use (measure) is now included in the measure energy plan
• Built Environment
  • New: core technology infrastructure (measure)
• Health
  • Combined: public insurance- children (measure) and public insurance- all (measure) into enrolling children in public insurance (measure)
• Law, Safety and Justice
  • New: crime rate: part I/ part II (indicator)
  • New: average response time in minutes Priority X/1/2/3 (measure)
  • New: court caseload (indicator)
  • New: clearance rate (measure)
  • New: time to disposition (measure)
  • New: age of pending caseload (measure)
  • New: radio system availability (measure)
  • New: last call (measure)
• Housing & Homelessness
  • New: homeless housing statistic under homelessness (indicator)
• Economic Vitality
  • New: per capita income (indicator)
  • New: small business contract opportunities (measure)
• Accountability & Transparency
  • New: audit project outcomes (measure)
  • New: timely completion of audit projects (measure)
  • New: new construction (measure)
  • New: efficiency of assessment resources (measure)
  • New: assessment to market value ratios (measure)
  • New: animals handled (indicator)
• Equity and Social Justice
  • Changed: household income by race now reported as household income by race as a percent of white median household income (measure)

Feedback

• Suggestions for more valuable or relevant indicators and measures
• Ideas to improve site navigation
• Additional desired content
• Text or graphs that need clarification