The City That Outsourced Everything
From Reason.tv: "While cities across the country are cutting services, raising taxes and contemplating bankruptcy, something extraordinary is happening in a suburban community just north of Atlanta, Georgia.
Since incorporating in 2005, Sandy Springs has improved its services, invested tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure and kept taxes flat. And get this: Sandy Springs has no long-term liabilities. This is the story of Sandy Springs, Georgia—the city that outsourced everything."
8 Comments:
A world without public union monopolies - lower costs, increased services, improved infrastructure, fewer bureaucrats. Given a chance, the system works the way it was designed to work.
There was an article in the AJC not too long ago about the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus trying to introduce legislation to yank Sandy Springs' charter (along with some other cities chartered about the same time). Their complaint (of course) was that there were not enough black people in these new cities.
After seeing this, I now know their real issue. Liberals can't afford for small government success stories like this to get out, much less catch on with other cities.
If you privatize most city services then then an annual report might be generated. The Silver Springs, GA 2010 Annual Report has been issued. The financial results are:
Revenues: $85,247,807
Expenditures: $64,519,637
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Fund Balance: $21,203,357 !!!
I like this model very much but have a quibble on city fines. The firm that runs Silver Springs, CH2M, is quite agressive in code enforcement. CH2M receives 22-30% commsission for every new licensing fee it brings in. The city received $4,290,960 for fees and forefitures in 2010.
Correction: Sandy Springs, GA.
Is there a point of diminishing returns using the Sandy Springs model when cities get to be really large?
I work for what's considered a relativly large company and some days I swear I'm working for Uncle Sam considering the waste and wasted efforts I've seen...
"The firm that runs Silver Springs, CH2M, is quite agressive in code enforcement. CH2M receives 22-30% commsission for every new licensing fee it brings in"...
Thanks for that nugget of info Buddy R, so Sandy Springs works in part due to extortion...
Sandy Springs does not have the social and economic problems that many other cities have, such as an aging or poor population, companies sapped by global trade shifts, health issues and so on.
It is not clear to me whether this is successful outsourcing, or successful cherry picking.
To get a clear picture, you would have to look at the county, before and after Sandy Springs incorporated: if the entire system is better off it was a good deal.
If Sandy Springs is better off and the remainder is worse off, then, where did the gains come from? Was it from outsourcing, or fromthe people who got left out?
Revenues: $85,247,807
Expenditures: $64,519,637
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Sounds like they are collecting too much.
Time to slash taxes.
Sandy Springs is receiving services that would cost twice as much under the system used by the county.
The question is: Why isn't the county pursuing the same solution that Sandy Springs uses? Why is the county paying twice as much for their services as they need to?
Sounds like the there should be an investigation of the county executives for malfeasance.
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