Here & There Column 3-9-10

Will Government Privatization Work?

Simply stated "Privatization" is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector (government) to the private sector (business). In a broader sense, privatization refers to transfer of any government function to the private sector including government functions like law enforcement and revenue collection.
There is much talk, rumors and here say circulating around Sullivan County that county government is looking at the possibility of privatizing its Adult Care Center and there is even many in the Department of Public Works that say the county is more and more leaning to privatize these operations.
We can not be sure what the county is up to when county officials indicate they could consider establishment of a solid waste authority which would be an autonomous agency charged with the mission of managing Sullivan's trash disposal.
These type of authorities elsewhere in New York State have the ability to take on debt independent of the county and charge fees. Some might consider this privatizing the solid waste disposal operations for the county and the state Legislature would have to approve this move.
Privatization is certainly nothing new and has been around since Ancient Greece times and in the Roman Republic private individuals and companies performed the majority of services including tax collection. In the 1950's Winston Churchill's government privatized the British steel industry.
Even today a major ongoing privatization is the privatization of Japan Post which is the Japanese post service and the largest bank in the world.
Those who favor privatisation believe that private market factors can more efficiently deliver many services or goods than government due to free market competition and they say over time this will lead to lower prices, improved quality, more choices, less corruption, less red tape and quicker delivery.
Some will argue that the basic economic argument given for privatisation is that governments have few incentives to ensure that the enterprises they own are well run. There are many who say that state (county) run municipalities tend to be bureaucratic and that a political government may only be motivated to improve a function when its poor performance becomes politically sensitive and such as improvement can be reversed easily by another regime.
The major opposition to privatization is from those who dispute the claims concerning the alleged lack of incentive for governments to ensure that the enterprises they own are well run on the basis of the idea that governments are proxy owners answerable to the people.
The subject of privatization presents an interesting topic with pros and cons on both sides. It certainly is not as simple as it seems so caution and lots of in depth study is required. Accurate dollars and cents facts and figures must also be communicated to taxpayers and residents of our county.