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Santa Fe officials outline FY26 goals, objectives and KPIs to strengthen budget oversight
Summary
Deputy City Manager Andrea Phillips and staff presented a new framework of goals, objectives and key performance indicators designed to make departmental performance and budget requests more transparent; parks maintenance was used as an example of how KPIs will inform budget trade-offs.
Deputy City Manager Andrea Phillips and staff presented the City’s newly developed FY26 goals, objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to the Finance Committee, framing the tools as an accountability mechanism that will tie departmental budgets to measurable outcomes.
Phillips said the framework is intended to move the city from department-led spending decisions toward predictable, reportable outcomes: "By setting these markers... we're stating to you and to the world what we intend to do with the precious taxpayer dollars that you have allocated to us, and we'll be willing to be held accountable for doing so," she said.
Nut graf: Staff described a cascading process in which department goals inform annual objectives, which in turn generate KPIs for repetitive services; department directors will report progress to city leadership and the governing body will receive quarterly updates to inform budget deliberations.
Rod Gould and Andrea Phillips explained that KPIs will generally be used internally but will feed quarterly reports for elected officials. As an example, parks maintenance staff (Melissa McDonald’s division) set a stretch objective to improve average service level from a 3 to 2.5 for 50% of parks and medians, using an objective scoring system where 1 is best and 5 worst. Staff said that if elected leaders want to move that target further (for example, to a 2.0 system-wide), the budgetary trade-offs (additional crews, labor hours or one-time funding) will be explicit during FY27 budget development.
Councilors responded positively to having measurable benchmarks. Councilor Faulkner said the approach offers a way to identify resource gaps and to support staff rather than to impose punitive oversight. Councilors also asked how KPIs would be refined over time and whether targets represented individual director decisions; staff responded these are collaborative and likely to evolve.
Staff signaled the new framework will be integrated into upcoming budget documents and quarterly reporting cycles and will influence FY27 budget requests and priorities.
