The Center for Digital Government’s Digital Cities just released their 12th annual list of top digital cities. They look at four categories based on city populations:
- 250,000 or more population
- 125,000 – 249,999 population
- 75,000 – 124,999 population
- 30,000 – 74,999 population
The survey asks a number of questions related to local government use of technology. Here is one that caught my eye, although it’s not necessarily exclusively technology-based:
Trending Question – “What measures has the city taken to deal with the economic downturn?”
• 90% of cities are pursuing grants and fees to lessen dependence on the city general fund
• 75% are consolidating data centers, servers, applications and staff
• 73% are pursuing shared services/ joint service delivery
• 72% are planning reductions in staffing and operating hours
• 61% are planning agency consolidation, mergers and/or elimination
• 42% may have cuts in public service delivery
• 45 percent plan increased reliance on third parties (private, commercial and not-for-profit)
Eden Prairie made the list. They were number nine in the list for the smallest cities. While I’m glad for Eden Prairie, it’s not the best showing from Minnesota. Here is how Minnesota cities have fared in the past:
- 2012: Eden Prairie #9 for cities with 30,000 – 74,999 population
- 2011: Eden Prairie #1 for cities with 30,000 – 74,999 population
- 2010: None
- 2009: None
- 2008: None
- 2007: None
- 2006: None
- 2005: St Paul #6 for cities with 250,000 or more population
- 2004: None
- 2003: None
- 2002: Minneapolis #11 for cities with a population of more than 250,000:
- 2001: None
So where are we? One excuse might be that it looks like cities self-select into the mix. Maybe Minnesota cities aren’t participating in the survey. If that’s the case, I’d definitely encourage more Minnesota cities to join the mix. If that’s not the case, I think Minnesota cities may want to take a look at what other cities are doing – especially since, as I reported yesterday, Minnesota State services are getting a nice nod (A- rating!) from the same organization. It seems like the State’s ability to provide services would smooth the path for more cities to follow suit.