rks and recreation (Dilger et. al., 1997, p. 22). The top ten most privatized services, in their order of frequency, were vehicle towing, solid waste collection, building security, street repair, ambulance services, printing services, street lighting and signals, drug and alcohol treatment centers, employment and training, and legal services (Dilger et. al., 1997, p. 22). This list corresponded with similar lists prepared for municipal governments of all sizes.
For the most part, the cities in the report were satisfied with the results of their privatization initiatives. Generally, they attributed their decision to privatize to a desire to reduce the costs of these services while improving the quality of the service. They also claimed that privatizing services had saved them between 10 to 20 percent on the cost of providing specific services and improved service quality by 24 to 27 percent (Dilger et. al., 1997, pp. 23-24). Reducing the number of public employees and limited liability were only rarely offered as rationales for privatizing services, and none of the cities claimed that it privatized services to either raise revenue or reduce union influence (Dilger et. al., 1997, p. 23).
Privatization in Rochester Hills, Michigan
Rochester Hills is an affluent suburb of Detroit, Michigan. Year 2000 census figures found that the city had approximately 21,000 households with a median household income of approximately $75,000 and a median house value of $226,000. Almost 90 percent of Rochester Hills' residents are White/Non-Hispanic and almost 50 percent of residents have at least at Bachelor's degree (City Data.com, n.p.).
Jean Farris is the Supervisor of Procurement in the Mayor's Office in Rochester Hills. She estimates that the city currently outsources to private companies less than 50 percent of its services (Farris, 2004). Even so, she notes that the city currently outsources the following services: some engineeri...