City of Henderson

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
2024 Award Recipient, Nonprofit

Credit: City of Henderson

Highest-Ranking Official*
Richard Derrick
City Manager/Chief Executive Officer

Public Affairs Contact

*At time of award

---

For more information
City of Henderson 
Henderson City Hall 
240 S. Water St. 
Henderson, NV 89015
702-267-2323 
https://www.cityofhenderson.com 

The City of Henderson is the largest full-service city in Nevada. Founded in 1953 and named by President John F. Kennedy a “city of destiny,” Henderson provides public works (roadways and infrastructure), police (crime prevention), utility services (water and wastewater service reliability), parks and recreation (quality of city parks and recreation programming), and fire (fire and ambulance services). Henderson serves residents and businesses who reside within city limits. Its strategic priorities are community safety, healthy livable/sustainable city, economic vitality, quality education, and high-performing public service. In 2022, the City of Henderson earned the Baldrige-based Pinnacle Award for Excellence from the Southwest Alliance for Excellence (SWAE). 

Highlights

• Net Promoter Score above 95 for all four wards, with nearly 97% of citizens planning to remain in the city
• Named in the top 10% nationally for police and fire services, emergency preparedness, parks, and overall city services  
• What Works Cities Gold Certification for data-driven, well-managed, local governance by national philanthropic group 
• Approaching 100% for employee engagement measure “like the kind of work they do” 
   

Customer Loyalty, Satisfaction Surpass Top National Scores 

• Citizens who plan to remain in the city show sustained levels at near 97% from 2010 to 2023. Segmented results for all four wards show sustained performance in the 90% to 98% range during this period.

• Net Promoter Score shows sustained levels of performance above 95% for all four wards from 2010 through 2023.

• Community satisfaction with community services has been sustained above the 95th percentile from 2010 through 2023. In 2021 and 2023, the City of Henderson received a “Leading the Way” recognition, which identified the city as receiving the nation’s top customer satisfaction score for quality of life for mid-to-large size cities, and identified the city in the top 10% of nationwide results in many of its community survey areas.

• Residential property value by acre has improved from about $575,000 per acre in 2019 to nearly $800,000 in 2023, better than local cities and the county.

• Commercial property value by acre improved from $1,700,000,000 in 2019 to almost $2,200,000,000 in 2023.

• Community satisfaction with the quality of city services by ward demonstrates sustained performance above the 90th percentile for all four wards from 2010 to 2023.

Strategy Focused on National Benchmarks, Best Practices

• The city has earned What Works Cities (WWC) Gold Certification for data-driven, well-managed, local governance. WWC certification, given by a national philanthropic group, recognizes and celebrates local governments for their exceptional use of data to inform policy decisions, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate the effectiveness of programs, and engage residents. The city’s application for WWC Platinum Certification, a global recognition, is pending.

• Overall performance for fire services nears 100% satisfaction for the five community survey indicators (2010, 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2023). Community satisfaction with police services has consistently scored between 85% and 95% from 2010 to 2023. In 2023, the city was honored with “Leading the Way” national benchmarks for police and fire services measures.

• In 2022, the City of Henderson started a national performance consortium and invited Baldrige and/or What Works Cities to participate and benchmark performance. Today, that group has grown to 17 cities meeting quarterly to share best practices and benchmark results data. For its use of best practices, the city has received multiple awards in Finance, Parks and Recreation, and Human Resources, among others.

• Community satisfaction with Parks and Recreation and water/wastewater demonstrate sustained levels of performance between 95% and 98% from 2010 to 2023. In 2023, the city received distinction with a Leading the Way national benchmark for this measure.

A Commitment to Lead the Way in Customer Service 

• The Exceptional Governance Policy and Protocol is used to identify norms and best practices expected of City Council members, and includes a code of conduct and accountability approach.  

• The Comprehensive Annual Budget Report (CABR) aligns with the city’s key processes and is available to the public through the website, on social media, and on premises. Responding to feedback, the Finance Department introduced two abbreviated versions of the CABR to make the information more comprehensible for the public. The Government Finance Officers Association has recognized the two simplified documents as a best practice.  

• Each of the City of Henderson’s four wards have rated its perception of city leadership between 90% and 99% from 2018 to 2023. In 2023, the organization administering the engagement survey honored the city with a “Leading the Way” national benchmark for this measure.

• Employees rate how well they feel leaders deploy the organizational mission, vision, values, and priorities (MVVP) at or above 95%, with sustained performance over the last four years.

Empowered, Engaged Workforce Focus on Training and Development 

• Results for employee engagement “like the kind of work they do” demonstrate levels of performance approaching 100% from 2018 to 2022. Employee engagement results for friendships have consistently improved from 2017 to 2022 and are approaching the 100th percentile.

• Employee promotion rates show sustained improvements, from 8% in 2016 to 11% in 2023. The city’s systematic approach to workforce development includes the Premier Leadership Academy (PLA) development program, a supervisor training series, and job shadowing opportunities.

• Employee development training, segmented by full-time, part-time, and volunteers, has been rated above the 85th percentile each year from 2017 to 2022. The city’s results surpass the 2022 local government benchmark (at about 78%) and private-sector benchmark (at about 68%), as well as a national benchmark (at about 74%).

• The Citywide Action Planning Committee (CAPC) is used to empower the workforce to generate and execute ideas to improve engagement. Employees in each department set specific targets and goals to improve engagement in their own areas, generate and execute local action steps to achieve these goals, evaluate their impact, and, most importantly, take ownership in the outcomes.

• The City’s Volunteer Program has led to $218,379 in value of services to support the city’s priorities.

Focus on Environment, Equality, Service to Support Community 

• The city’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI), a global index assessing inclusivity, improved from around 70 in 2019 to 100 in 2021, and the city has sustained the 100 level though 2023.

• Demonstrating its reduction of environmental impacts, the city improved results for the number of electronic envelopes from almost 37,000 in 2019 to about 65,000 in 2023. The city maintains e-signing benefits society through decreased carbon emissions, water usage, and waste.

• Water and wastewater service affordability demonstrates sustained performance levels between 4% and 5%, which exceeds the American Water Works Association benchmark of 10%. In addition, from 2020 to 2023, the city has reduced carbon emissions by 743,000 lbs., conserved water by 932,424 gallons, saved 316,672 lbs. of wood, and eliminated 51,459 lbs. of waste.

Commitment to Financial Viability  

• The city’s bond rating of Aa2 and AA+, sustained since 2016, is among the highest in the State of Nevada. Bond rating is a measure of organizational credit worthiness.

• From 2019 to 2023, the financial stabilization reserve fund balance has grown from around $23 million to over $30 million. The City of Henderson’s stabilization fund approach is used to shield it from economic downturns.

• The City of Henderson says that its focus on financial viability enables it to consistently offer the lowest property tax rate in the region, from $0.71 to $0.77 of $100 of property value from fiscal year (FY) 2019 to FY2023.

Sustained 100% Compliance, Fiscal Management Supports Operations 

• The city’s results for legal and regulatory compliance—environmental, financial, fleet management, facilities management, development services, disaster preparation and mitigation, human resources, and employee safety—demonstrate sustained 100% compliance in key service areas from 2019 to 2023, with no citations or permit violations reported, with the exception of technology compliance from 2019 to 2021; however, technology compliance has improved significantly, from 66% in 2019 to 100% in 2023.

• Legislative cost avoidance exhibits effective fiscal management, with actual fiscal impacts from passed bills consistently below proposed impacts, and results demonstrate a positive trend over the past five years with a cumulative $27 million beneficial impact.   

Back to Press Release

Resources

Search All Baldrige Award Recipients
Baldrige Award Recipient FAQs
Attend Quest for Excellence
How Baldrige Works
Baldrige Program Impacts