"CGA is the gold standard for thorough and objective analysis of government expenditures"

Jon Coupal

"CGA analysis are simply the best. Their work is superb"

Joel Fox

The Center for Government Analysis provides a variety of services to clients in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, with the goal of helping governments and organizations function more efficiently.  In addition, the Center provides objective analysis of a variety of public policy issues using several different methods and data sources.

Data Services

The Center maintains a comprehensive set of databases that can be utilized by governments to benchmark against other jurisdictions of similar size, geography, or other category of comparison.  Governments incorporated in the Center’s databases include cities, townships, counties, school districts, special districts and states.  Metrics for comparison include payroll and staffing information at the departmental level, as well as overlay information such as geographic and demographic data. The Center actively works with clients and third-party vendors to incorporate new data, including performance, spending, and workload metrics that can be used by managers and policymakers to inform their policy analyses and allocation decisions.  To this end, the Center customizes data analysis tools for clients, using both existing and newly-provided sets of information.  For more information on these services, please contact the Center directly.

Fiscal Analysis

Center staff has an extensive history of working on prominent public finance issues including:

  • Municipal bankruptcies or insolvencies
  • Pension and retiree medical liability projections and management
  • Proposed municipal incorporations or splits
  • LAFCO analyses
  • Strategic financial planning and forecasting
  • Performance management and efficiency studies
  • Development of comprehensive financial plans

For all the topics referenced above, Center staff prepared high-value research reports for a variety of clients across industries, public, private and otherwise.   

Legislative and General Policy Analysis

The Center works actively with clients in the public and private sectors to determine the fiscal impact of proposed legislation and policy initiatives at the state and local level. Center staff have worked on analyses of:

  • Water distribution in California
  • Municipal referenda and initiatives
  • Amendments to city general plans
  • Initiatives to modify school financing mechanisms
  • Savings from augmentations to after-school programs
  • Property tax distribution systems
  • Trends in the manufacturing industry
Copyright, 2008, The Center for Government Analysis