Municipal Services
Friday, March 21, 2008Damascus Voters Uphold LibertyThree citizen-initiated charter amendments hold back city government By Kurt T. WeberFiled As: Budget and Tax, Municipal ServicesDamascus, Oregon voters overwhelmingly passed three city charter amendments in March that help keep their local government lion in its place. The citizen-led initiatives: require compensation if city regulation reduces property ... more »»
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007Recovering from Smart GrowthOct. 10-12 conference to offer market-based solutions By Kurt T. WeberFiled As: Events, Municipal Services, Privatization, TransportationLooking for alternative solutions to counter the “smart growth” Gosplanners in your town? Consider a journey to the 2007 Preserving the American Dream Conference in San Jose, California. By attending, the American Dream people ... more »»
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Thursday, September 27, 2007Private Company to Manage Oregon LibrariesHow about converting them to subscription institutions? Filed As: Budget and Tax, Municipal Services, PrivatizationJackson County (Oregon) Commissioners signed a five-year management contract with Library Systems & Services, LLC that has the potential to reduce the county library system’s annual operating costs from $8.75 million to $4.3 million. According to the Sept. 27 ... more »»
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Monday, July 2, 2007Higher Labor Costs, Higher TaxesFiled As: Budget and Tax, Municipal Services, PrivatizationThe Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, which analyzes policy in western Pennsylvania, reminds us of the link between an expensive public workforce and high taxes. In its policy brief (PDF) Pittsburgh Finances: A Long Way to Go, ... more »»
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Friday, June 22, 2007How to Reduce Government Payroll CostsCompetitive bidding works for services, why not individual positions? Filed As: Budget and Tax, Municipal Services, PrivatizationCompetitive bidding has been successfully employed world-wide to improve government service quality and reduce their cost. Thus, why not use competitive bidding to help reduce public servant payroll costs? Years ago Jerry Yudelson of Portland, Oregon explored this idea in The Daily Journal ... more »»
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007Sandy Springs Virtual GovernmentAlmost every public service has been contracted out Filed As: Municipal Services, Privatization"Indeed, the experiment in Sandy Springs, [Georgia], has proved that local governments don't need hundreds of public employees to function. Sandy Springs, a fast-growing town of more than 80,000 residents, has only four public employees who are not involved with public safety. Except for police ... more »»
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007Private Sponsorships of Parks Grow in PortlandFiled As: Budget and Tax, Municipal Services, PrivatizationIn the City of Roses, “Keep Portland Weird” bumperstickers abound -- and so do private sponsorships of parks. Recently, Columbia Sportswear agreed to spend $1 million to maintain and improve Sellwood Park over 10 years. An April 10 Oregonian more »»
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Thursday, December 28, 2006Wi-Fi is Out of Government's CompetencyReports warn of "free" municipal wi-fi Filed As: Information Technology, Municipal ServicesWriting for the Foundation, Jerry Ellig warns that government involvement in wi-fi is problematic, even when the service is "free." "Proposals for free or privately subsidized Wi-Fi are obviously attractive at face value. Exclusive access to rights-of-way and poles would bestow a ... more »»
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Friday, February 2, 2007Of Living Patterns, Better Travel and Wealthier LivesFiled As: General, Municipal ServicesTed Balaker at the Reason Foundation, co-author of The Road More Traveled, has developed 15 key points about travel and living patterns. In plain English, they are useful for anyone who seeks to save commuters’ time from being wasted, and taxpayers from having their money squandered, on ... more »»
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