North Carolina Benchmarking Project Report 2024: Data and Decisions

The North Carolina Benchmarking Project was established thirty years ago so that participating municipalities could compare service data and performance trends. It relaunched in 2022 as Benchmarking 2.0 with a new emphasis on collaboration, an online dashboard for streamlined data collection, and annual in-person performance strategy sessions. This year’s data-rich report features information and ideas exchanged during the Benchmarking 2.0 Performance Strategy Sessions in November 2023. Its purpose is to help local governments use performance metrics and management strategies to make their service departments more efficient and effective.

Current Partners: Apex, Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Concord, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Hickory, Holly Springs, Raleigh, Salisbury, Wake Forest, Wilson, and Winston-Salem.

Services: Asphalt Maintenance and Repair, Building Inspections, Central Human Resources, Emergency Communications, Fire Service, Fleet Maintenance, Parks and Recreation, Police Service, Solid Waste Management, Wastewater Service, and Water Service.

Interactive Dashboard: The dashboard, which is accessible through the Benchmarking 2.0 website, includes extensive features that make it possible to apply data normalization and calculate percentages, averages, and confidence intervals across comparison units. Detailed graphs can be downloaded as PDFs.