The article (“For Some Cities, Promises of Privatization Fall Short,” May 17, 2017) actually shows the flexibility and benefits of privatization and public-private partnerships.
These young Georgia cities were able to make adjustments to their start-up models to best suit the changing needs of their citizens. They were able to do this because they didn’t start with, and thus weren’t burdened by, large and inflexible government bureaucracies.
And it is important to remember what drove these communities to incorporate in the first place—a desire to obtain more local control over government services that arose in response to poor service delivery from their regions’ larger, less responsive county governments. Privatization was simply a tool to help bring incorporation to fruition.
Municipal governments should commit to ensure efficient and reliable services are provided to residents, regardless of whether a public or private entity provides the service.
Austill Stuart and Leonard Gilroy
Reason Foundation
Los Angeles, CA
This letter to the editor was submitted to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 18, 2017.