Andrew Kleine is a nationally recognized leader in municipal finance and performance management. He served as Baltimore's budget director from 2008 to 2018, after nearly 15 years of federal government service that included budget and policy positions in the U.S. Department of Transportation, White House Office of Management and Budget, and Corporation for National and Community Service. He now consults with local governments on budgeting for outcomes, long-term financial planning, Lean Government, and pension and health benefit reform.
In our work at Harvard on innovation in government we look for
important expert contributions that will assist practitioners. City
on the Line is one of the best and a call to action for leaders of
every political stripe to think differently - very differently -
about how tax dollars are spent. -- Stephen Goldsmith, former Mayor
of Indianapolis, former Chair of the Corporation for National and
Community Service, and Professor of Government at the John F.
Kennedy of Government at Harvard University
Andrew Kleine's reflections on his ten tumultuous years at the helm
of Baltimore's budget office have resulted in the best 'how to'
book for a budget director I've ever read. -- Mark Funkhouser,
Publisher of Governing Magazine and former Mayor of Kansas City,
Missouri
City on the Line puts a human face on budgeting, which I didn't
think was possible. Kleine's stories about brave and innovative
public servants are inspiring. -- Rashad M. Young, City
Administrator, District of Columbia
On the surface, Kleine's journey in Baltimore is about the
development and implementation of Outcome Budgeting, a powerful,
innovative budgeting process which should be valuable for
academics, politicians, budgeteers, and anyone committed to more
effective government. Equally important, however, this is a
textbook case study about the challenges of and the tools for
successfully leading change in the highly-charged eco-system of big
city governance. -- Marty Linsky, co-author, "Leadership on the
Line" and "The Practice of Adaptive Leadership"
If you want to improve performance in your public organization,
read this book. The budget is the most powerful driver in the
public sector; it determines who gets money, to do what, and with
what strings and incentives attached. Andrew Kleine, long time
budget director in Baltimore, turned the budget process upside
down, so city leaders purchased best-value results rather than
funding yesterday's programs. He has written a highly entertaining
but profound book that will teach you how to do the same. It's a
great read-and it will help your organization produce great
outcomes. -- David Osborne, co-author of Reinventing Government,
Banishing Bureaucracy, and The Price of Government, author of
Reinventing America's Schools: Creating a 21st Century Education
System (2017)
This book tells the story of Charm City from the unique perspective
of Baltimore's Budget Director. Andrew Kleine is on a mission to
ensure that government spends taxpayer dollars on the thing that
matters most - improving outcomes for residents. Along the way, he
teaches us a new form of budgeting and makes the case for all
governments to fund what works and what matters. A must read for
anyone seeking better results from their government. -- Michele
Jolin, Co-Founder and CEO of Results for America
This book is required reading for anyone interested in making
cities work. Andrew Kleine assumed the reins as Baltimore's budget
director at the start of the Great Recession. He explains how the
city not only survived the fiscal crisis but emerged with a higher
bond rating. His lively and engaging writing actually makes it fun
to read about budgeting, accountability, and governance. -- Sandra
Newman, Professor of Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University
In City on the Line, Andrew Kleine paints a picture of a new
Baltimore government - one that produces better results for more
residents and less money through redefining its budget process
using data-driven decision making. It's an optimistic, yet
reasonable, approach to running a city that says we can add value
without adding to the bottom line. If you're looking to improve
government finance or use tax dollars better, this is the book for
you. -- Rebecca Rhynhart, City Controller, City of Philadelphia
This book is a stellar example of how to improve the effectiveness
of government by tying together strategic planning, budgeting and
performance accountability. -- Mark Friedman, author of Trying Hard
Is Not Good Enough
Andrew Kleine's book is a must read for all who are interested in
greater accountability and innovation in government. Baltimore's
journey is a fantastic example of both the challenges and successes
of our complex landscape in local government. -- Darin Atteberry,
City Manager, Fort Collins, Colorado
I implemented Outcome Budgeting in two cities and am a true
believer in its power to bring out the best not only from every
dollar, but from every person in the organization. City on the Line
is an essential guide for city managers and finance officers
looking to deliver results, whether their budget is in deficit or
surplus. If you're thinking that a book about budgeting must be dry
and technical, think again. This is a beautifully written book,
full of stories that pull you in and keep you wanting more. --
Chris Morrill, Executive Director, Government Finance Officers
Association, former City Manager, Roanoke, Virginia
The genius of this book is that it shows how everyone -
reform-minded professionals, elected officials and, especially, the
public - can play a role in turning resources into results for
communities. Andrew Kleine's advice on how to engage the public
about budget choices is worth the cover price all by itself. --
Chris Adams, President, Balancing Act
Andrew Kleine's City on the Line is the most realistic and
persuasive argument in print for replacing traditional budgeting
with the more difficult but also far more promising outcome
budgeting approach. Yet this book is about far more than
budgeting--it offers valuable lessons about how to identify and
support creative and dedicated public servants, how to integrate
budgeting with program design, management, and evaluation, and how
to inform and involve the public. -- Roy Meyers, Professor of
Political Science and Public Policy, University of Maryland
Baltimore County
Academics and policy makers talk about connecting budget to
outcomes. The theory sounds nice but it is wicked hard to do. City
on the Line is candid and real - telling what worked and what
failed. It is an inspiring must-read for every mayor and city
budget director in the country. -- John M. Kamensky, Senior Fellow,
IBM Center for The Business of Government, Former Deputy Director,
National Partnership for Reinventing Government
This book is required reading for anyone interested in making
cities work. Andrew Kleine assumed the reins as Baltimore's budget
director at the start of the Great Recession. He explains how the
city not only survived the fiscal crisis but emerged with a higher
bond rating. His lively and engaging writing actually makes it fun
to read about budgeting, accountability, and governance. -- G.T.
Bynum, Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma
As one of the country's leading government innovators, Andrew tells
his personal story of making Baltimore's budgeting system focused
on outcomes that matter to Baltimoreans, rather than incremental,
arbitrary changes on the margin to the status quo. Far from an
ivory tower thesis, Andrew offers practical tips from a
practitioner who learned the hard way on how to make government
smarter and more efficient. Andrew's story offers important lessons
to anyone who cares about making government work better for all of
us. -- Oliver Wise, Digital Government Principal, Socrata and
former Director, Office of Performance and Accountability, City of
New Orleans
With City on the Line, Andrew Kleine has written a definitive work
on local policy and programming. This book just works - whether one
is in the early stages of a local government career or is a veteran
city manager. City on the Line is both a "how-to" and an
inspiration for outcome-based budgeting. Andrew renews hope that
change is possible, and that even in turbulent political times, we
can still develop rational public policy through budgeting. City on
the Line will be required reading for our staff. -- Scott Huizenga,
Budget Director, City of Kansas City, Missouri
Baltimore has proven that when budget tradeoffs are presented with
clear priorities and solid evidence about performance and impact,
elected officials will listen to reason and across-the-board cuts
will be a thing of the past. City on the Line provides all the
details -successes and challenges- about implementing a brand new
budget philosophy. -- Nelsie Birch, Senior Fellow, George
Washington University Center for Excellence in Public
Leadership
Beyond his mastery of the subject matter and surprisingly
compelling anecdotes about public budgeting, Kleine's writing is
simple and elegant. It disappears behind the lively scenes, images,
and characters he evokes throughout the book. What makes Kleine's
book uniquely worthy of a read is that he's written about an
important academic subject matter in a way that reads almost like a
novel. Kleine combines thoughtfulness and creativity in
storytelling, and artistic finesse in writing to educate us about
how to help government deliver meaningful results. Read it, learn,
and enjoy. -- Jeff Page, former Chief Financial Officer for the
Library of Congress and Chief Operating Officer for the Corporation
for National and Community Service
City on the Line is long overdue. I had the privilege of visiting
Andrew and his team in early 2016 to learn about their outcome
budgeting process and take as much as I could back to Atlanta. The
result for us was a markedly improved process that effectively
prioritized funding decisions and helped us achieve the outcomes we
were seeking. I'm excited that other public sector practitioners
will finally get to learn what Andrew taught us back then. -- Matt
Malament, former Director of Budget, Innovation and Performance for
Mayor Kasim Reed, City of Atlanta
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