This paper shows how the performance budget of a local government organization, in this case a province in the Netherlands, can be attuned to the specific task characteristics of the programmes in these budgets. Three ways of alignment are suggested: (1) differentiating be-tween standardized and complex programmes; (2) focussing on the politically most relevant programmes in order to avoid information overload; and (3) distinguishing between the types of performance information in terms of the role of the province in the programme (facilitator versus executor) and the stage in the policy making cycle (policy development, policy elabo-ration or policy execution). These suggestions challenge the generally straightforward NPM rationale of performance budgeting, in which standardized outputs are directly related to re-sources. Our empirical research shows on the one hand that the redesigned programme budget based on the above principles received substantial approval of its users, i.e. the provincial councillors. On the other hand, as regards the use of this programme budget the picture is ra-ther diffuse, i.e., the majority of the councillors indicate that they use the information rather intensively, but its formal use in official Council and Council committee meetings remains limited.