ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996 TAG: 9602050015
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
AMONG PLACES that local governments have been looking to in recent years for models of reinvention, one of the best is Indianapolis.
Its Republican mayor, Stephen Goldsmith, was recently named "public official of the year" in Governing magazine, and with good reason. His administration has been successfully applying the power of competition to reduce the cost and improve the delivery of government services.
Though he ran for mayor proposing outright privatization of many services, Goldsmith quickly came to the view that city employees should be allowed, even encouraged, to compete with the private sector for the work.
In the past two years, according to Governing magazine, Indianapolis has put up for bid more than 60 municipal services. Interestingly, public employees have been able to keep about half of the services that have faced competition from private bidders.
In either case, services have become more efficient. Indianapolis has cut its budget by $24 million and its own work force by a third (mostly middle managers, Goldsmith says). That has left more money for neighborhood improvements and additional police officers.
Meanwhile, competition appears to have energized the public employees. They reportedly enjoy their greater input in decision making and increased responsibility for performance. Teams and workers win incentive bonuses for saving money, in contrast with the old incentives for a department to spend all the money it got.
Competition is no panacea. Some activities have to be not just overseen by government, but kept within it. Still, it would be good if more experiments in quality management found their way not just into favorable magazine articles, but also into governments at all levels - including in Virginia.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB