,,,Streamlining San Diego: Achieving Taxpayer Savings and Government Reforms Through Managed Competition

Streamlining San Diego: Achieving Taxpayer Savings and Government Reforms Through Managed Competition


 

Publication Date: September 2007

Publisher: San Diego Institute for Policy Research; Reason Foundation

Author(s): Adam B. Summers; Leonard C. Gilroy; W. Erik Bruvold; Geoffrey F. Segal

Research Area: Business

Type: Report

Coverage: California

Abstract:

San Diego taxpayers could save $80 to $200 million per year by allowing the private sector to compete with government agencies to do things like clean city buildings, perform maintenance on government vehicles, and run golf courses. This study takes a look at the lessons learned in other jurisdictions about managed competition and how they can inform San Diego leaders. Identifying eleven functions currently carried out by the City of San Diego, they show how jurisdictions throughout the country have used managed competition in these areas in ways that benefits both taxpayers and municipal employees. Rather than a tool used for "slashing and burning" budgets, managed competition can spur on innovation and allow cities to focus on their core competencies and functions. the City will need to prioritize and undertake managed competition
efforts in a way that builds internal systems and institutional memory. The City can not do everything at once, though. The 30+ case studies laid out in this report should, however, spur innovation and point the way toward where San Diego policy makers can learn from others.