Grand Rapids named one of America’s best run cities/tops in Michigan

Grand Rapids named one of America's best run cities/tops in Michigan

Published on July 25, 2024

Grand Rapids improves score in new overall rankings

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - WalletHub's annual best and worst managed cities list for 2024 names the City of Grand Rapids municipal government as one of its Best Run Cities in America. Michigan's second largest city also captured the top honors for operational efficiency in the State of Michigan. Grand Rapids earned an overall ranking of 23 in the new ratings - up from 28 last year. It scored 33 in its "Quality of City Services" and 31 in "Total Budget per Capita" rankings.

WalletHub, a personal finance firm, annually puts together a list of Best- & Worst- Run Cities in America. The list compares 149 of the most populated cities across six key categories: 1) Financial Stability, 2) Education, 3) Health, 4) Safety, 5) Economy and 6) Infrastructure and Pollution. It evaluates those dimensions using 36 relevant metrics. Next, it calculates an overall "Quality of City Services" score for each city based on its weighted average across all the metrics. Finally, for each city, it divides the "Quality of City Services" score by the "Total Budget per Capita" (dollar amount) to construct a "Score per Dollar Spent" index - displayed as "Overall Rank" in the sample.

City Manager Mark Washington said the recognition is a tribute to the City's elected officials, staff, board and commission members, and community partners who dedicate themselves to improving the community.

"This news is assuring as we strive every day to live up to our core values of accountability, collaboration, customer service, equity, innovation, and sustainability in serving our community," he said. "We are not a perfect City, so it is important that we continuously find ways to improve services and fulfill our mission to elevate quality of life through excellent City services. I am especially grateful to the many City employees who take great pride in serving this community."

Cassandra Happe, WalletHub analyst said, "One way WalletHub measures the effectiveness of local leadership is by determining a city's operating efficiency. In other words, we can learn how well city officials manage and spend public funds by comparing the quality of the services residents receive against the city's total budget. Using that approach, we compared the operating efficiency of 149 of the largest U.S. cities to reveal which among them are managed best. The best-run cities in America use their budgets most effectively to provide high-quality financial security, education, health, safety and transportation to their residents. Many of the top cities also have a very low amount of outstanding government debt per capita, which can prevent financial troubles in the future."

Washington said he invites residents to learn more about their municipal government how it manages their tax dollars. The City offers a comprehensive budget library online at grandrapidsmi.gov and offers a Resident's Guide to the Fiscal Plan, Final Fiscal Plan, and Strategic Plan.

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