This paper explores the status of performance information in a local political setting. The NPM discourse assigns a new steering role to politicians as strategic decision makers. Logically, this should lead to an increased use of performance information. However, we notice that this is not automatically the case. There is a discrepancy between the intended and the actual use of performance information. Some explanation might be found in the fact that political and economic rationality generate divergent objectives. Politicians have a different perspective on performance information than the one implied in the New Public Management (NPM) model. We attempt to set a state of the art of performance information use by local politicians within the municipal council. The research builds on empirical findings regarding the reference to performance information in the political debate and attempts to evidence the presupposed patterns of use. The institutional framework is used in searching answers for the discrepancy between intended and actual use of performance related documents. Institutional theory and ter Bogt’s and Van Helden’s framework for studying organizational change might provide a basis to explore and analyse the reasons for using NPM like instruments in public sector organizations (ter Bogt, 2008a: 217). Data are collected from the Flemish municipal councils' official reports, as we intend to study the use of performance information in a true political setting. We analyse the extent to which politicians refer to performance information during the councils’ meetings. An index construct makes archival data operational to our analysis. Previous research has simultaneously come to sceptical and optimistic conclusions about the acceptance and use of performance information by local politicians. Our preliminary findings suggest an important variety in the reference to performance information during the councils' debate.