During the first decade of the new millennium, Peoria was one of the fastest-growing cities in Arizona and the U.S. The city’s growth spurt came to a screeching halt in 2008 with the onset of the housing crisis and recession, and growth-related revenues have all but dried up. Like other Arizona cities, Peoria is highly dependent on sales and income taxes, which have also fallen off dramatically over the last two years. Almost overnight, the growth focus that had dominated Peoria for so many years gave way to an entirely different reality that required new ways of thinking and new management tools for maintaining high quality and core services for the residents of Peoria.

To this end, City departments were asked to apply a more strategic approach when evaluating their service activities.  As part of the ongoing fiscal 2011 budget process, each department was charged with developing a department operating plan. The intent of these plans is to encourage departments to become more strategic and forward looking and to show how their functions and goals align with those of the larger organization. Each operating plan includes a department mission and vision, describes the key functions of the department, identifies the desired outcomes of each key function, and estimates the resources needed to achieve those outcomes.