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City leaders in Indiana face the same problem that confronted me more than 25 years ago when I was mayor of Indianapolis — the challenges our city faced significantly outweighed our resources.
In 2026, communities must adjust to cuts in federal grants that could cost local governments $1 trillion in the next decade as well as to Indiana’s property tax relief law that could cost cities and other units of local government up to $1.8 billion in the next three years.
I learned in the 1990s what city leaders need to accept now: Developing innovative ways to deliver government services better, faster and cheaper is essential to improve the quality of life in our communities.
One important difference between then and now: Mayors today have access to an amazing array of digital and technical tools that can transform service delivery.
When Teresa Lubbers, president of the Sagamore Institute, and I recently attended the annual meeting of Accelerate Indiana Municipalities to present the Goldsmith Prize for Innovation in Local Government, we saw that a commitment to taking risks to innovate with technology was not dependent on the size of the city.
Goshen, the prize winner, as well as runners-up Michigan City and Tipton, help show that changing how government works is the best path to delivering better services. Goshen plans to develop an artificial intelligence platform that will catalog and standardize city data. The city will then use the platform to confront its affordable-housing crisis by streamlining its development processes.
The Goldsmith Prize includes support from a graduate fellowship, paid through the Sagamore Institute, who will work with city administrators to execute the initiative.
It takes political courage for a mayor to drive change in how services are delivered. The pressure to keep doing the same things in the same way is often intense. Yet that is the path toward stagnation and the eventual erosion of services.
In Indianapolis, we faced steep challenges in the 1990s: Property taxes were higher than in surrounding communities, a budget deficit seemed to limit available options, and the chamber of commerce wanted us to invest $1 billion in infrastructure. We used those challenges as the rationale to cut the city budget each year and to reduce property taxes five years in a row.
At the same time, we invested $1.3 billion in neighborhood infrastructure and secured $7 billion in private-sector investments. Public-private partnerships helped with a range of economic development projects, including expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and construction of Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Victory Field, White River State Park and a canal extension.
Better, faster and cheaper became our way of doing business for the benefit of our constituents.
Given the current challenges, city leaders face several unfavorable options. They can raise taxes and fees to generate more revenue. They can cut or eliminate services or defer infrastructure improvements and other investments.
Yet mayors also have a better option. They can lean into innovative solutions, including leveraging advances in technology, that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the services they provide residents and businesses in their communities.
Through the Goldsmith Prize, we want to reward cities that take the lead in innovation and to encourage other communities to embrace new ways of meeting residents’ needs.
Better, faster and cheaper isn’t merely a slogan. It’s an approach to government that turns elected leaders into innovators and improves the quality of life of the people they serve.•
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Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis and deputy mayor of New York, is the Derek Bok professor of Urban Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
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Before Stephen Goldsmith was mayor, my street, a major thoroughfare, had street sweeping 3-5 times per week. During his tenure, that dropped to once every week or two, now done without any water to keep the dust down and only performed properly when citizens complained that the city’s new private contractor was throwing dust from the street onto our homes.
Ever since Goldsmith, there has been no regular street sweeping.
“Better, faster and cheaper” – what a crock. Ever hear of the mechanic’s triangle? Good-Fast-Cheap: Pick two.
I deem this column worthy of a Goldsmith Prize, which rightfully should come in the shape of a turd.