2010 Ontario Service Review Guide.

Service Delivery Review Guides

• Making Choices: A Guide to Service Delivery Review for Municipal Councillors and Senior Staff (515K)
• A Guide to Service Delivery Review for Municipal Managers
• Letter to all Municipal Clerks (20K) 

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario, the Municipal Finance Officers Association, and the Ontario Municipal Administrators Association developed this resource for municipalities, and particularly for elected officials, and senior staff. There are expectations for governments to make informed choices about the service they provide, whether municipalities are facing economic growth or challenges. I hope this guide helps provide a better understanding of the benefits and overall considerations involved in a municipal service delivery review.
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Making Choices: A Guide to Service Delivery Review for Municipal Councillors and Senior Staff was created to help municipalities respond to these needs. In particular, it was to help municipal councils and senior staff examine how to:
• improve services
• meet new or increased demand from customers for services
• assess service levels in the face of competing priorities and/or decreasing revenues
• reduce costs, and • improve revenues.
This guide offers a systematic approach to decision-making around managing municipal spending. Traditional approaches have often involved practices such as across-the-board cuts, targeting “softer” services to cut, deferring capital projects, increasing user fees, or dipping into reserves. Moreover, it was generally assumed that a reduction in the budget of a service would result in a comparable reduction in service levels.
The service delivery review process focuses on setting priorities and, where possible, reducing the cost of delivery while maintaining or improving services and service levels. It’s all about making informed, strategic choices.