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November 27, 2000
PSG Press Release
ST. PAUL --
The Public Strategies Group, one of the nation's top consulting firms in public sector change and redesign, has undertaken two projects with the state of New York to help reform its property tax system, according to company CEO Babak Armajani.
Armajani also announced his company is working on two other projects with the state's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.
In one of two projects, PSG was commissioned by the New York Office of Real Property Services to develop a seven-year strategy for achieving and maintaining property tax equity. Through a series of meeting and focus groups, PSG solicited input from over two-hundred stakeholders including school officials, assessors, individual taxpayers, county directors, local government representatives, mortgage bankers, professional associations, state government officials and the Office of Real Property Services. Based on their input, PSG developed a design strategy for property tax equity and recommended steps for implementing the design over the next five years. An interesting feature of the project includes a computer-based knowledge management prototype developed by PSG. This knowledge management prototype allows a user to experience the characteristics of an online property tax system that New Yorkers could expect to be using in 2005 if the design of the new system were implemented. PSG has submitted its final report and the agency is moving to implement its recommendations. For the complete report, see the ORPS website.
The New York Office of Real Property Services also commissioned PSG to help them design a strategy for expanding the capacity in local governments to deliver high quality property tax assessment services. Like the first project, PSG is developing an overall strategy accompanied by recommendations for implementation. This project is slated for completion in March.
New York's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services has also contracted with PSG on two projects.
In the first, PSG has helped OASAS re-engineer and dramatically simplify the process used to distribute state aids to counties and service providers. As a result, service providers will receive state aid more quickly and with less red tape, allowing them to concentrate more of their efforts on serving those in need.
In the second project with OASAS, The Public Strategies Group helped redesign the role and function of the agency's field offices to help them increase the effectiveness of local prevention and treatment service systems.
These four projects continue PSG's extensive work with state agencies in New York, including the Office of Mental Health, the Department of Health, the New York State Insurance Department, the Office of Medicaid Management, the Office of General Services, the Department of Budget, the Department of Transportation, and the state Department of Education.
Company CEO Armajani says PSG's work in New York reflects a movement by citizens and officials across the country to reinvent the delivery of public services, a movement embraced by individuals across the political spectrum who recognize the need for change.
"We've worked with officials from the Republican administration in New York, the Democratic administration in Washington D.C., and Governor Jesse Ventura's Independent administration in Minnesota, as well as with numerous other state and locals officials from across the country," said Armajani. "Regardless of ideology, they all recognize that citizens are demanding results from the public sector. When they don't get results, citizens tune out or turn elsewhere, often with great implications for schools, government, and society as a whole."
With a cadre of highly respected former government executives and some of the country's foremost thinkers on government, PSG has emerged as one of the leading firms in public sector change and redesign. It includes among its partners David Osborne, author of the best-selling Reinventing Government and, most recently, The Reinventor's Fieldbook.
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