In 2007, Coral Springs was the first—and to date, only—city to receive the Baldrige Award. Located on Florida’s east coast near Boca Raton and Ft. Lauderdale, Coral Springs has a population of 132,000, an annual budget of $135 million, and 770 full-time employees, 300 part-time and temporary employees, and more than 800 volunteers.

The City of Coral Springs started its journey to becoming a high-performing “municipal corporation” in 1993. In 1997, it received the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award, which it earned again in 2003. In 2006, Money magazine named it one of the Best Places to Live.

By the time it won the Baldrige Award, the City of Coral Springs could point to impressive results including:

• Receiving the Government Financial Officers Association’s Distinguished Budget award for the past 16 years
• Having its strategic planning process cited as a best practice by several organizations including the American Productivity and Quality Center
• Cutting the crime rate in half over the last ten years, boasting the lowest crime rate in the state for cities with populations between 100,000 and 499,999 and the fourth lowest crime rate in the country
• Sustaining resident satisfaction with city services in the mid- to upper 90s since 1999
• Raising business satisfaction from 76% in 2004 to 97% in 2008, with 90% stating they would recommend the city to others
• Holding employee satisfaction at more than 90% for the last ten years
• Reducing the employee turnover rate from 7.5% in 1997 to 4.5% in 2006

I will write more about Coral Springs’ best practices in future posts. In the meantime, if you want to see what a well-run city looks like, check out the application summary for the City of Coral Springs.

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