Depends what outcomes you're talking about, but there's a lot of definitions and guidelines and policies around service goals. If anything the city is plagued by definitions of outcomes to a fault because meeting them while sprawling, and re-evaluating them requires a lot of admin.
For example, snow clearing:
https://www.calgary.ca/roads/conditi...tml#priorities
The city can choose to budget for those policies, or they can change them. Change which roads are priorities, switch to a 24-48 hour window to make up for having more roads to plow but a budget decrease. A new neighborhood is built? Well those are a lot of new roads that now need to be accommodated for in the city's snow-clearing priorities without affecting the others.
Similarly the Calgary Transportation Policy (this is a pdf)
https://www.calgary.ca/content/dam/w...P-2020-P12.pdf has guidelines and definitions that have been voted on and admin is tasked to follow. Budget can be changed by adjusting what priority hours are and what they require. Fewer priority hours and making it 15 minute times instead of 10? That's something council can direct Admin to do and deal with it. Until they do, more neighborhoods and busier roads will mean needing more to meet the definitions that have been chosen.
Garbage and recycling have agreed upon outcomes as well. Saving (or spending more) money is as simple as changing the schedule. Every 3 weeks instead of 2? Potential for big savings.