Privatization of Municipal Services in America's Largest Cities

Thanks in large part to three nationwide surveys sponsored by the International City/ County Management Association in 1982, 1988, and 1992, we know a great deal about the extent of municipal privatization in the United States. These surveys, however, were not designed to explore the various nuances of municipal privatization, such as the extent of their satisfaction with privatization, why cities choose to privatize services, the extent to which privatization reduces service costs and improves service delivery, how privatization affects employee's compensation packages, how cities monitor the quality and effectiveness of privatized services, and what lessons city officials have learned from their privatization experiences. The authors fill this void in the literature by asking these questions and more of city officials in America's largest cities. Among their many findings, they discovered that while privatization is now an accepted, alternative means of delivering municipal services throughout the United States, it is by no means viewed as a panacea.