Privatization

Privatization

Privatizing services is a more attractive option for most local governments and is widely practiced around the state. There are certain government services in which it is impractical to create a free competitive market. For others, it is almost impossible to predict the potential success or failure of privatization. These unclear predictions make privatization a very complicated issue for local governments.

The combination of rapidly rising service costs and slowly increasing revenues has led officials in some cities and counties to use non-traditional income services to fund government options. Throughout the mid 1980's state and local governments continue to be in trouble because of the rapid increase in the demand for services they provide along with an increasing resistance on the part of their citizens to raising taxes in order to provide those services. Privitization is an outsourcing of functions to private companies that the financial burdern of providing these services shifts from the taxpayers at large to the individual consumers.

Doing away with government services at the local level is almost impossible. Elected officials are often resistant to vote to cut services. The elected officials are usually familiar with the people who might be negatively impacted by such an action. Citizens usually do not want to do away with local government services because they view services such as water/sewer, fire , police and recreation as being life sustaining. Citizens feel that services can't be provided adequately by state or federal governments, and would like to keep services at the local level.

A factor to keep in mind when looking at the potentials and downfalls of privatization is the private...

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Privatization on the Roll, says RPPI

http://www.reason.org/apr98central.html

The Opportunities and Challenges of Privatization

http://www.doe.gov/privatization/report/chapt-3.htm

The Opportunities and Challenges of Privatization

http://www.doe.gov/privatization/report/chapt-4.htm

The Legal and Political Enviornment of Privatization

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/pgem/ch1c.html

ASCH, Peter, and Sececa, Rosalind S. Government and the Marketplace 2nd Edition. The Dryden Press, a division of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1989

Weicher, John Private Innovations In Public Transit. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public policy Research, 1988

Krikorian, Greg and Riccardi, Nicholas Board Votes to Test Privatizing Child Support System. Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1988.