78-09-A6

- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1978

<< Previous Broadcast

Next Broadcast >>

Cities

Transcript Whenever anyone brings up cutting government costs, the inevitable question is "what programs do you want to eliminate?" Well, without getting into a discussion of whether or not there are programs that should be eliminated, I suggest there may be ways to reduce the cost of government without eliminating services. I've spoken before about Scottsdale, Arizona's fire protection costs running at two-thirds less than for other cities of the same size. Scottsdale has no city fire department. It contracts out to a private, profit-making fire fighting company for protection. Now, through a Santa Barbara based research group which studies means of lowering spending we learn that many cities have found free enterprise solutions to a number of costly problems. The president of the research group, Robert W. Poole, writing in the paper HUMAN EVENTS, tells of Camden, New Jersey's experience with 90 garbage collectors operating 16 trucks. Today a private firm does it with 35 employees and nine trucks. That same firm has branched out. Last January it took over the trash collection job in Collingswood, New Jersey and replaced a dozen public employees with one man and a side-loading truck. In another nearby community three men and one truck replaced 14 city employees and five trucks. Other cities have found they can maximize their investment in highly trained police officers by using guards from a qualified protection agency for building security--including even the police station. This frees higher priced police for crime fighting duty. Several weeks ago when the debate over Proposition 13 was at fever pitch in California, a T.V. newscaster reported the results of a little private sleuthing in one California city. He had witnessed the planting of a tree along one of the city streets. The tree was sapling-size in a 15-gallon can. It arrived at the planting site in a truck along with six city employees. The newscaster who, like all of us, has done a little home gardening, checked with the city and found the charge for labor on that tree planting by public employees came to more than $150. He then called several nurseries and inquired what they would charge for planting such a tree and how the job would be handled. All of them said they'd have a fellow bring it over in a pickup truck and plant it. The charge? Well, the lowest estimate was $7.50 and the highest $15.00. Private contracting eliminates the need for cities to have inventories of expensive equipment often sitting idle for long periods and even more expensive personnel for whom work must be found at times. A year ago, Mr. Poole says, an economist at the University of California in Santa Barbara carried out a statistical analysis of contract versus non-contract cities in Los Angeles county. On the average, he learned, that street maintenance in cities that contracted out had costs 43 per cent lower than those maintaining their own departments. There were many more examples than I have time for but maybe your home town might want to get some information from the "Local Government Center" in Santa Barbara, California. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-09-A6 Production Date 06/27/1978 Book/Page RPtV-319 Audio Youtube? No
		Added Notes