In the last , there was considerable discussion about shared services and "thinking out of the box". Good news: It appears that the town will be joining the service this year, which should save tax payers a considerable sum.
I'm certainly happy about this development, although I'm not sure it exactly qualifies as "thinking outside the box". I'd classify it as plain ol' common sense.
Now if we really want to think outside the box, let's imagine a city - with little or no debt - that provides better quality services for half the cost. Municipalities are doing this today by breaking the monopoly of local government. Think about it for a moment. The whole point of local government is to provide vital services in the most efficient way possible, but does that automatically assume that these services will be run and managed by the town's employees themselves?
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Food for thought: Take a look at this video, courtesy of Reason.TV. Is a free market solution worth looking into for at least some of the services in town (or are we simply too comfortable inside our cozy little box)? Must the local school system also be in the transportation and janitorial business? What are your thoughts?
