The Town of Hillsborough is keeping score, literally, of its progress in meeting goals.

The mayor told WCHL recently that the scorecard concept is a winner, and citizen satisfaction is the proof.

“Having this scorecard really helps us keep focused on what are the outcomes that we want to do,” said Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens. “And one of those is to create connectivity and recreational opportunities for our citizens – and well, we’ve opened up Riverwalk.”

Riverwalk, the approximately $1.8 million greenway trail along the Eno River in Hillsborough, opened earlier this month, under budget and ahead of schedule.

The mayor gives some credit to the balanced scorecard, a tool used by the town for the past seven years to monitor its progress in meeting goals.

An update of the scorecard, with some very positive numbers, was presented to the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners at it most recent meeting on Oct. 27.

Stevens said the report really boils down to one page called the Strategy Map.

“That’s you top-level scorecard,” said Stevens, “and it looks at how we take our mission and our vision – what it is we want to see for the town, and break it down to strategic objectives.”

The scorecard measures public satisfaction, operational-and-financial goals, coordination efforts with other municipalities, and training objectives, among other things.

Each department runs its own scorecard as a subset.

“That’s what their budget is developed around,” said Stevens. “That’s what their projects are developed around. And, more importantly, there’s a set of measures.”

The concept was developed in the 1990s with origins in the private sector, and the Harvard Business School. The city of Charlotte also embraced the scorecard.

For Stevens, one of the most gratifying aspects of this year’s scorecard is the overall positive set of responses to the Biannual Survey of citizens.

The town either met or exceeded goals for keeping citizens informed, engaged, and satisfied with services.

Crime was down significantly, in a town where the rate is already low.

Stevens said he’d like to see Hillsborough make strides in lowering the cost of living, and affordable housing,

“What makes Hillsborough so special is our town character – the authenticity, which goes back to the diversity,” said Stevens.

You can view the scorecard on the Town of Hillsborough website, and the link is available here (scroll down to page 17).

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