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From B-
to B+
In its recent ranking of America’s Top States for Doing Business, CNBC
named Georgia as the eighth-best state in the nation. The National
Policy Research Council gave the Georgia.gov improvement initiative a
Top 10 ranking. And in an annual report issued by the Pew Center on the
States and Governing magazine, Georgia has progressed from B- to B to
B+. Only three states scored better, receiving an overall A- ranking,
the highest in the 2008 report. Georgia was among five states to
receive a B+, an accomplishment unscored by Georgia’s ranking 49 out of
50 in its per capita state tax burden.
Part of the improvement comes from key recruits to lead Georgia
agencies, says Lientz. Among them are the state’s first controller and
a statewide property officer. “Imagine,” he says, “we had a $22 billion
budget and no controller before.” Likewise Georgia hired a state
property officer, who produced for the first time an inventory of all
state property. Previously, “we didn’t know all the properties the
state owned, when leases were coming due,” Lientz says. “We didn’t know
how many vehicles we had, who was driving them, how many miles were on
them. Now we have
that information.”
Customer
Service Delivery
 Georgia is the only state that has placed a focus on customer service
delivery, according to its COO. “We think the citizens are our
customers. Government may have a monopoly, but it has no right to
deliver services in a haphazard fashion,” Lientz says.
Faster, friendlier, and easier has become the rallying cry of Lientz’s
leadership. “It’s just a slogan,” he admits, “but it helps us talk
about these approaches
on a regular basis.” In the private world, having to report earnings
every quarter
brings a “sense of urgency” that doesn’t always exist in the public
sector. He’s brought some of that same incentive to Georgia by putting
in place accountability, benchmarks, and timelines. The state has not
only stepped up the rhetoric around customer service, but also has
initiated recognition and awards for employees who deliver excellent
customer service. And it has developed performance-based metrics to
measure how it’s doing.
With the domestic economy now in a downturn, Lientz is looking overseas
to build growth opportunities for the state. Already about 20 percent
of new investment and jobs in Georgia originate from overseas
companies. More than 43 global businesses operate in the state.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is continuing to drive
international growth in Georgia, as is what Lientz calls “dynamic
growth in the port system.” Savannah is the fastest growing port in the
United States, with export and import earnings balanced at 50 percent.
The port contributes to seven percent of Georgia’s GDP.
So what is keeping Georgia from the A- on the Pew list? Lientz admits
the state still has its challenges—transportation and education, to
name two. But they are good problems to have, coming as a result of
growth. Lientz says he’s seen more creative ideas swirling around
primary and secondary education than ever before, and he believes the
state and the city are more aligned on solving transportation than
they’ve been in the previous five years. “We’ve got the right team and
board leaders working on the problems,” he says. “If I were a skeptic,
I’d ask, ‘Why is it taking so long?’ But it’s not for lack of trying. I
believe we will deliver the right results soon.”
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