Instead of Cost Reduction, Make Cost Reallocation Your Mantra

on March 25, 2015

As noted in my previous post, service reviews are started for a number of reasons. The driving factor for them is that governments, on whole, are being asked to meet an increasing service demand from their community, without increasing tax rates.

To tout the success and impact of these initiatives governments tend to use on measure above all else: cost reduction.

Cost reduction is an easy, effective, and universally understood metric for success, and this is why it is commonly used. Many times, it is the only publicly available result of the service review. In a quick Google search, I was able to find calculations from Regina, Vancouver, and Toronto, ranging from $1.95 million to well $167 million in estimated savings.

That said, I believe cost reduction does a poor job of communicating the success of service reviews: Read more

Dear Council, Your City May Not Be As Wasteful As You Think

on March 20, 2015

Every now and then a government decides to step back and take stock in the programs and services they offer. They call this process many names, but for now let’s use the term core review. A core review differs from other forms of service reviews in that it really focuses on assessing which activities are “core” or required, and which activities can be seen as discretionary.

There are many driving factors for these core reviews. Sometimes governments face a budget shortfall and “holy heck, we gotta find some way to cut our budget” or sometimes newly elected representatives have a desire to get rid of the perceived government waste. More than that, the overriding driver is that most communities are growing in some capacity and the demands for services at all levels of government are growing at a pace that exceeds tax revenues. As the common, but hated, saying goes, governments are being asked to do more with less.

Now here is the great kicker of it all. From my experience, governments generally find that only 1% to 10% of their expenditures can be described as discretionary. Everything else (over 90% of the budget) goes to services that are essential to the modern government. And even within that last 10%, many services are perceived as politically critical or important to the community. Read more

What is the meaning of the MaisonBlanche Consulting logo?

on March 20, 2015


The short answer is that the logo is an old crest connected to my Mother’s family. When searching for images to represent my consulting practice, I considered options like fancy letters, various themes such as the White House, and combinations of the two. None of those actually conveyed what my services were about, or what I am about.  So, I decided to follow a different path, and use imagery that represents my connection with history, my family, and my own personal identity.

newspaperarticleMy grandfather was an amateur historian, and probably should have been a professional historian, if he had not chosen to be an architect instead. He created a massive book filled with artifacts, letters, and photos from my family’s history. Within this tome, I found Royal Navy letters following the Battle of Trafalgar, World War I correspondences, and a newspaper article from 1905 describing the family crest that I have used for my logo. In fact, the logo is literally a photo of this crest that I cleaned up in Photoshop.

The more I reflect on the logo, the more I like the idea of a 110 year old newspaper article serving as my image. I appreciate the sense of my ancestors being with me every day, even if it’s on a web-site, a business card, or a letter head.

 

Why Does a Consultant’s Web-Site Feature a Photo of Trees?

on March 19, 2015

Welcome to my site and my first post. My name is Alex Whitehouse and I am the “President” of MaisonBlanche Consulting. I value staying true to my identity and history. I have deep roots in Canada, with family extending back over 100 years on Vancouver Island, and over 300 years in Canada as a whole. It goes without saying that I’m proudly Canadian, and this photo, taken at my aunt and uncle’s old farm near Roberts Lake, is one way to continually embrace this important heritage.