Cities Can Improve Services By Freeing Employees To Compete

How should municipal services be delivered to citizens? The political right argues that outsourcing services is usually more efficient, while the left argues that privatization of services such as waste management or waste water treatment would lead to lower quality services. In actuality many municipal services are delivered by both private companies and public employees. Sometimes public employees are best position to provide better services and some time private contractors have the edge. Municipalities should examine the cost of both options.