Sandy Springs, Georgia: The City that Outsourced Everything
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 04. 2011
- While cities across the country are cutting services, raising taxes and contemplating bankruptcy, something extraordinary is happening in a suburban community just north of Atlanta, Georgia.
Since incorporating in 2005, Sandy Springs has improved its services, invested tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure and kept taxes flat. And get this: Sandy Springs has no long-term liabilities.
This is the story of Sandy Springs, Georgia-the city that outsourced everything.
Approximately 8 minutes.
Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.
Go to reason.tv for downloadable versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv's CZcams channel to receive automatic notification when new material is released.
You mean to tell me that electing two people with economic and business backgrounds were able to government without debt?
Im sure they have some debt. They just aren't going to admit that while they are doing a PR job on their methods.
@@EarlFaulk They said long term debt. Obviously, they have a short-term debt to help with liquidity but its nowhere near the same thing.
I can said economics think outside the box look the problems and décentreliser the system and look for results. I can said the system is working. Leftist love control all over reason claim socialism all cost and the media tent to love it.. I can say I got his books well made however his contact information is not longer valid I just rewatched this video every time impressed me..
@Toussaint Louverture well he never got impeached so you got that wrong, and yes has multiple marriages, and multiple bankruptcies, but is currently worth over $2 billion. Quite obviously smarter than you are, what is your net worth?
@Toussaint Louverture are you completely stupid, or just unable to read, at what point did i say he got removed? i said he never got impeached, learn to read.......
I lived in Sandy Springs when this happened. Every day I saw improvements. It was wonderful after years of bad.
I'd love to live in Sandy Springs just to see the improvement done day by day, plus having such an intelligent, common-sense mayor.
How's it now
What's the situation nowadays?
@@cowswirl living in Lala land, there all too closed minded and don't understand what goes on outside of the city, naive. It grows but Atlanta is way better.
YamiAnubisZX As someone who actually lives in Atlanta...you couldn’t be more wrong. I fucking *wish* I lived in Sandy Springs.
We had an economist for a Prime Minister here in Canada and had a surplus when he left office, now we have an ex part time drama teacher come snowboarding instructor and a 35 billion dollars deficit. I am going with an economist every time.
For all the shit talking WHEN CLINTON LEFT we had money , every time a *TERRORIST* Republican takes over all that surplus gets used up ( just look at Obama vs trump on national debt )
@@ravenstar5376 keep crying.
@@sebastienholmes548 im sorry but when you are a weak ass CAUC you do what you just did , and CONTRIBUTE ZILCH to citation . but thats what yall do .
Ron Swanson would tearfully be proud!
Only one bad word
TAXES
“Drop in a quarter, look at a duck.”
One tear ...
Ben Offerman on the other hand would be disgusted
@@presidentelecttaterpuddin1626 sad but true
Mayor is an economist not a politician. I think that about sums up the secret to success.
that has nothing to do with anything, wanna know her secret? she fired the workers making a living wage and hire new people for less money and no benefits
Gregory Everson you forgot to add that Private companies then hired ppl to do those jobs. Also, without government overhead and inefficiency, the wages don't have to drop. Also, the city is solvent.
Gregory Everson, you make no sense. If you listen to what was said the city of Sandy Spring as a municipality did not exist until 2006, that means that Fulton county GA was providing services to Sandy Springs. That means that Sandy Springs did not have any employees. Once the city was incorporated there was a need to start providing services which were contracted out. Your argument holds no water.
i love how stupid people are, i argument holds valid, but u are to stupid to see it, ok i will make it simple, they are skilled workers, its like paying a PRO chef to work at BK, you think taxes are going to be lowered, HAHA, thats more money they stick in their pockets, that private company is going to want more money after contract is up
There is something called bidding process.
an ecomomist for mayor....novel idea
dante040 agreed, maybe I should have ran
No, the novel idea is having a Conservative economist as mayor. There are plenty of Liberal economists in government.
Jack Crafty, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Economics is the only social science that is overwhelmingly conservative; in fact, studies find that majoring in Economics actually _increases_ conservatism.
@C caymer You don't understand how taxes are supposed to work, do you?
they are doing what government is meant to be an oversight/ enforcement . not the manager owner-operator, enforcement, employer.
you forgot the word "thief"
"A fiscally accountable city" . . . elected officials will need that explained to them. Daily.
Hard to believe that hard working woman who was an Economist is no longer with us 😪 RIP Eva Galambos (1928-2015)
You served and changed your community like not many others
BOY, did ever leave her mark! 👏🏻
This was brilliant, the antithesis of central planning.
Shut up and take my money! ...oh wait, you don't need it.
And you missed the joke.
lol
@@matthewklahn7523 How is it hardly ever cheaper? Companies would obviously accept the contracts as its how they make money and they dont have to put up with government money wasting and so much bureaucracy.
@@matthewklahn7523 No, it turns out they are paying 50% LESS. For better service. Did you even watch the video?
Proposerity is anti-corrupt. Hard to bribe an organization or person that is already prosperous.
Not wasting a bunch of money saves money, who would've thunk it?
But what about the pork barrel earmarks that help corrupt politicians get ludicrously wealthy? Won't someone think of the corrupt politicians?
Imagine putting these people
In charge of NYC.
As someone who lives in NYC, this would be a godsend. The city is millions if not billions in debt, and the money just flows into money pits like mismanaged public housing initiatives instead of fixing glaring issues like an underfunded department of education and failing infrastructure system
Let that cesspool rot and die.
@@axeliosstonewall6235 it's already doing one of those things
I live in NY and I honestly think these self proclaimed geniuses would not be smart enough to even vote them in..
They would be run out of office, threatened, or killed by union thugs.
City run like a business and not like a political tennis ball and it works, amazing
Yes and eventually ignorance will get the best of them.
Never has and never will work chief.
@@matthewklahn7523 OP said that the city was run *like* a business, not that it was. Get off your high horse.
@@matthewklahn7523 why can't you argue without adding some sort of passive aggressive comment at the end? makes you look like more of an asshat than the haircut in your pfp.
What happens now is politicians make sweetheart promises to Unions and public sector workers to get votes, resulting in bloated government budgets. If taxpayers came out and voted, they would change the balance of power to be more efficient with taxes.
I had a teacher say, "I don't care your social beliefs. Government will never run anything well so let them do as little as possible."
Such words if wisdom!
I wish there were more of those teachers now!
Proof there is hope for us when intelligent people get in office
It fell apart
@KelMaster Construction It worked for a couple years until all the laborers who were brought in to work minimum wage jobs had time to look around the town and realize they could get twice as much working for the other businesses in town. that was their entire plan... use private companies who could hire people without giving good salaries or benefits as opposed to hiring people to gov't jobs. Sounds great on paper but those workers who are saving you money aren't idiots. You want to work out in the heat for $8 per hour or work at McDonald's for $13.
@KelMaster Construction that is exactly what they did, the middleman, private companies brought in all types of cheap labor to replace city workers who were getting a decent salary with benefits.
That’s an oxymoron moron. You realize, surely, that the stock market that your ilk worships is completely not based on merit earnings? A hallmark of conservative values. False returns on bogus value equals a bubble. What happens to even the best bubble? They pop. Do not put your money into the ponzie scheme that we call the markets. Money is gained through value. This is a fraudulent market. It has no value.
Just a true conservative speaking his piece.
Out here in CA we contract companies for government projects the same way. It's been done this way my entire life. However, out here those projects almost unanimously end up failing or costing 2-3x what they would have costed to cut out the middle man. What these companies do is they do just enough to make it more costly for the taxpayer to end the project than it is to fork over more cash to finish it. Meanwhile the execs pocket the extra cash. It's only a matter of time before these companies wise up in Georgia like they have in California.
I feel like the title of this should actually be, "Sandy Springs, Georgia: The City that Privatized Almost Everything"
And improved their citizens life by getting more and better services for less money
Thats what you feel, but what do you think?
@@wc389 What the fuck does this comment even mean
@@imachangedname2978 outside of the USA only kardashian wannabees use the phrase "i feel like.." and then state something that is not at all a feeling, but instead it is a suggestion or a prediction.
He should of said "I think that the title of this should be..."
Or
"It is my belief that the title of this video should be.."
@@wc389 I thought you were responding to the reply my bad
She reminds me of margret thatcher....
I'm Living Your Life indeed
No way, she's the social worker from Mrs Doubtfire!
she reminds ME of Jenna Jameson
Before or after the stroke?
That is a very nice complement.
"Zoning laws criminalize neighborhood enterprises like grocery stores in predominantly residential areas, or businesses operated out of people's homes. They criminalize cheap housing in commercial areas, like walk-up apartments over business enterprises. Even something as minimal as reviving neighborhood grocers, alone, would reduce gasoline consumption by around 5%." - Kevin Carson.
They also criminalize the lead factory that would open next to your house. Zoning laws are not perfect and we should have more mixed zoning but zoning in the end still has it uses.
Ask Houston about zoning laws.
Decades ago a large percentage of a city's population lived in walk-up's. The street-level floors of buildings were valuable real estate for small businesses. This put goods and services close to the consumers. No one had to zone or plan this scheme; it was obvious to any property owner.
I think we need to criminalize skilled trades like plumbers and electricians. My professors told me they are dirty and crude people who frequently have dirt and grease on their hands.
Zan G if i want to have dirt on my hands whats wrong with that? We should not get rid of skilled trades. I know a few plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, and farmers who like their job better then any other job they have had. They also make more then most of the people who work for a industry or government agency. One farm that started small now has eight employees (all stared above minimum wage, they all are extremely happy with the job) and more feilds.
My city - Kansas City, Missouri - took out $800 million worth of bonds to fix some of our decrepit bridges and sewers, and that’s just a small part of our public indebtedness. Every city will eventually go bankrupt if they keep borrowing.
Crazy. Like slapping a bandaid on a glaring impending water leak.
I live in Braselton, about 30 minutes away but I have family there. It’s a gorgeous city and I’d say it’s probably one of the best places in the state to raise a family. Beautiful city
CA needs to take this on... we are doing terrible
Ok!!!! Build the WALLLLLLLLL
In CA all new projects are already done this way. Look at the high speed rail project as an example.
@@Danielle_1234 so, so so false.
@@Danielle_1234 not only is that false, but the high speed rail is infrastructure propaganda for city slickers. 73% of our water ends up in the ocean because we don’t have dams. Our agricultural sector has been taking a major hit because of it, and its part of the cause of the droughts.
But that isn’t quite a pet project, so I don’t see democrats paying it any mind any time soon.
if i’m not mistaken, Irvine, CA is a privately owned city
I lived in Sandy Springs when I was a kid now I'm south of Atlanta and taxed like crazy
Why do you not move back to Sandy Springs? (not being flip, a genuine question)
I believe it's likely you'll discover the "success" of Sandy Springs in your answer.
+Buz Off if I had the money I would
D0P3PRIEST As I suspected. No "affordable" housing for "the riff raff". Similar in my town, buttoned down so tight, young adults and nonworking elderly have to move out. Economically gated community. The now elderly who built it never expected it to force themselves out.
Buz Off why would you call poor people riff raft and not being able to afford rent is always a problem in nice areas even in Columbus ga where I'm from you have your rich areas which we got a lot and poor areas which we have few of. Just get a job save and invest and after a few years things can get better yes it's true the best things in life are worth waiting for. It's not easy we have impulse problems that's our faults nope else's sandy springs works cus they know you can't be cheap and expect great service or quality.
No one not nope
In 2019 sandy springs expanded it's facilities and reverted to a more traditional municipal system. They claim that it was no longer economical to have a private company run their departments
This is why we can't have nice things.
Yes and as soon as the quality diminishes because they aren't held accountable and they aren't receiving awards for their parks anymore, they will realise it was a mistake. Remember it was the first time something like this was done and they are still serving as pioneers for the type of city model. Whether or not it will work or not work will help in validating the private model as a beneficial model with value surpassing the simple net cost on a book keeping chart.
If it does end up turning Sandy springs, still one of the most affluent cities that rose from bankruptcy, into New York 2, will ultimately help other cities in the future.
In May 2019 Sandy Springs directly hired back the vast majority of employees who had been working as contractors, as the privatization scheme proved to be much costlier than originally advertised. Lol.
www.ajc.com/news/local/sandy-springs-amid-reinvention-hires-more-than-100-workers/ntGN0D4tFWZIsXM7mPHL3M/
@@johnzehrbach820 can someone sum up the article here? I got interested in the topic, yet this news website is unavaiable in Europe.
Hubert Stefaniak : Sandy Springs residents won’t notice much of a change as the city transitions from an outsourced workforce to one that is primarily staffed by government employees.
That’s because the vast majority of city contractors have left their company jobs to work for the municipality full-time. Of the 139 contractors to whom the city made employment offers, 127 took the jobs, said city spokeswoman Sharon Kraun.
Since it was founded 14 years ago, Sandy Springs has been a model for privatization - the view that the private sector can run a government more efficiently than the public sector. It became a model for startup cities.
Until the recent hiring began, Sandy Springs had just 17 employees who were not police officers or firefighters. From the city’s founding in 2005 until 2008, there were six full-time employees who didn’t work in police and fire; in 2018, the number was only up to 10.
But in May, the city did an about-face when City Council voted to offer jobs to most of its contract employees instead of renewing $21 million in existing contracts with multiple companies. Over five years, officials said, the savings will be more than $14 million.
“You’ve got to look at the bottom line every time you do these things,” Mayor Rusty Paul said in May.
Most of the new workers came on board July 1, but municipal court employees and those who work in parks and recreation will start their full-time city jobs Aug. 15. The city also hired employees in the clerk’s office, communications, community development, economic development, facilities, finance, IT and public works.
John McDonough, the city manager until Aug. 2, said most of the openings are in the area of public works. He said there has already been interest in the jobs, and some positions have drawn hundreds of applications.
McDonough also said he expects the city to save $500,000 more than previously estimated. That puts Sandy Springs “well over $3 million” in savings, he said.
Still, Paul said he can’t guarantee that the city will eschew the private sector permanently. If in a year it makes more financial sense to hire contractors again, he said, that’s what Sandy Springs will do.
“If it doesn’t make sense, we’ll go away from it until it makes sense again,” Paul said.”
@@pinustaeda thank You sir
@trufiend138 Not so, commie.
I work for a city and definitely support outsourcing when it makes sense/works well. But it also seems that you have to guard against an "inmates running the asylum" situation, where outside contractors run the show with zero accountability
Yes, when people just send money to their cronies it doesn’t work. But that’s a lot more common with Democrats.
There will always be pirates man.. but slavery to a gov won't protect you.
this comment regarding the asylum aged pretty well
I'd imagine the biggest issue would be contractors greasing politicians for contracts
Wondering how well this would work on a huge city..
New York
Los Angeles
"we don't know how to manage money so.. give us more!"
Wow an economist doing a good job at managing the economy of a city what do ya know
Politicians who are both competent and morally sound are such a rarity.
The only reason this works is because it is a small government. If the federal government outsourced things it ends up being a disaster as contracting companies never deliver but keep on promising the world. Once a contracting company doesn't deliver the government will never admit it because it makes the people in government responsible for losing so much money.
ijeasykill what makes you think contracting companies can’t deliver? You know they are heavily penalized if they can’t make deadlines, they signed a contract and in that contract there’s language that amounts to “don’t be late or you pay a penalty and will be replaced”
Not true. Its called a bond
@@sparks6177 do you have experience with this? my govt always hires the lowest bid contracts. the work is completed but shoddy and they just outsource it to cheaper labor and collect money. Government contracts are almost always a money losing bid. it's just done for clout or power.
This is right on. Smaller government and also not a lot of profit in this small town.
@@lolwtnick4362 yes, I’m involved in a contract construction company and as long as you are working with reputable contractors they often make deadlines and do good work. there are rare cases in which extenuating circumstances prevent a job from progressing as planned but like I said it’s rare. I don’t know how well this would work for major cities but i think it would work for most cities
I live there ("here") and yes, it IS that simple!
vegasystems1957 Im so sorry for you. I live in Roswell and am subjected to your traffic daily. What a mess.
David Farner buckhead traffic is horrid
+David Farner Interesting. Is the traffic so bad you feel sorry for +vegasystems1957? It sounds like a nice enough place to live from the video.
Of course, it's been some years now, so maybe it hasn't all panned out.
Balancing a budget really isnt complicated. Just spend less than you earn. It may mean living on rice and beans for a while but it works. Course it also helps to earn more. Luckily the tax reform just passed!
David Farner why, you are north of us....you are our traffic, not the opposite.
ReasonTV, when will you go back and provide an update on the status of the city and see if it succeeded or failed over the last 15 years? (Sure, it's grown, but did the policies change?)
The policy did change. In 2019 Sandy Springs did a nearly complete about-face and took back control of almost all the jobs that were privatized a decade earlier.
@@bobsnow6242 why was that? Did the large growth see an increase in Democrats being elected? Or was it a push to "create jobs" in sectors that gave public Unions?
@@goyousei1 Just looked this up and the mayor is a Republican. It appears they found most of the positions they outsourced to be more expensive that in-house options. I would assume they are still avoiding pensions but I couldn't find a statement either way.
@@ChrisPotwora so, some arbitrary study that isn't available to the public shows that it costs more to outsource a job than to to do it in house, once you factor unions and pensions?
How interesting 🤔
@@goyousei1 Most documents can be gotten through a FOIA request. If the town doesn't like the policy, they came vote in someone that will privatize again. Thats the beauty of a federal constitutional democratic republic where states devolve power to local government. Edit: fixed first word of second sentence. Edit2: replaced democracy with federal democratic constitutional republic
I wish more cities were like this.
Things have changed a bit
April 2011: This video: "CH2M Hill runs Sandy Springs more efficiently..."
May 2011: "Sandy Springs is cutting ties with CH2M Hill - the private company that provided everything from employees to paper clips when the new city sprang to life five years ago."
Aug 2016: "Sandy Springs may sue PCIDs, CH2M over $2.8m street funding dispute"
May 2019: "after years of outsourcing the bulk of its workforce, Sandy Springs decided this week to bring most of those workers in-house."
www.reporternewspapers.net/2011/05/18/big-change-sandy-springs-city-goodbye-ch2m-hill/
www.reporternewspapers.net/2016/08/17/sandy-springs-may-sue-pcids-ch2m-2-8m-street-funding-dispute/
www.ajc.com/news/local/sandy-springs-first-cityhood-changes-how-does-business/cRX2YPFDVzWgUtNE7c4h9L/
Dang. No long term liabilities to needing to sue your contractor for over 2 million
Where's that information in the propaganda video 🤔
@@eyetell Quite possibly this propaganda video was explicitly put together to whip up support during a time of friction between the town and the contractor; It was only one month later when they fired the company featured in the video.
@@TrogdorBurnin8or I like the last story. I think there is more than one way to do it. But in the end outsourcing gave them flexibility. It may be harder to release people after they are hired.
@Chelsea rawr there is no inner city. It was a very wealthy area and wanted out of the Fulton county problems(primarily the school system) and had the money to do so. They passed laws to shut down adult oriented businesses, cost of living is through the roof, and they write more traffic tickets than any other city in north GA. Almost no one new moves to the area which is why the way it was run wasn't sustainable. Old wealthy people can't last forever and younger people can't afford it. I left that area before it incorporated and I'm happy I did.
I've "shared" this with my Facebook groups, blogs and readers before. Now I'm gonna do it again!
This extensive outsourcing option in largely BLOCKED in California by the unions and their sycophants in Sacramento. But people need to know there ARE alternatives.
If they are Cali people they are already to far gone to recover...get out while you can.
I'm still stuck here. Thankfully I at least live in the conservative city of Roseville.
Outsourcing isn't the answer to everything. The MAIN REASON this was successful is Sandy Springs residents are relatively wealthy, which allows them to provide good services for their community only (100,000 residents).
@@martinhines8756 yep so what's your point
@@uniaguilar Read my post again. My point is outsourcing is not the answer to everything. This was only successful in this city because of the wealth of the city itself.
I thought that woman WAS Margaret Thatcher. LoL.
Well her ideas are quite similar too.
There's a bit of a resemblance, until you hear her speak.
It works in Sandy Springs because there is little infrastructure, it's just a collection of subdivisions many of them gated. There is no other side of the Tracks.
Same infrastructure going south towards Buckhead, going north towards Roswell. What's Sandy Springs missing, infrastructure-wise?
With major employers like IBM, Cisco, and Oracle, the city can't help but do well. It is wise of them to avoid long-term debt since companies do move out on occasion.
Jeff Rosenbury companies move or even CLOSE on many occasions. Im not buying this BS.
@@Davido50 the city has been like this for a good amount of time now. They're still doing fine.
@@Davido50 It’s not BS, they just hire based on whatever gets the job done and saves money.
So, 63 people don't like this video. Why? Because outsourcing everything worked?
Because they dumped their existing debt, pension obligations and such, onto the city the seceded from.
they helped dig that hole. pay up weasels. same type of aholes who leave before bill comes at group lunches.
+Buz Off They didn't succeed from a city, idiot. They were and UNINCORPORATED PART OF THE COUNTY. No succession involved.
Dana Scully Socialist
all the city did was screw over the workers, they fired the old crew that earned their money and hired people for less, its what rich people do, Trump has filed for bankruptcy many times, rich people dont pay their debts either
I live 45 minutes West of Sandy Springs and had no idea of their story not policies. Thank you ReasonTV for educating me! It makes me wonder how well (or how poorly) my local cities (Kennesaw, Acworth, Canton, Cartersville, Hiram, Marietta, Dallas, Douglasville et al) are handling their constituents' money
I’d love to see a follow up video of this!
I remember when this happened. I thoroughly enjoyed living in Sandy Springs from 04-07
They need to take this show on the road and get America to start changing. They need to have one stop in D.C. and educate a few people in Congress as well.
Started with 6 employees....In 2019, the Sandy Springs City Council moved to scale back the PPP model, directly hiring 183 contract employees, leaving only 15 outsourced full-time workers by the end of 2019. They are now at 370 city employees
When I lived in Atlanta that was the area I did a lot of my work in serviced a lot of those apartment complexes in that area along with Alpharetta Dunwoody Roswell Buckhead Sandy Springs is a real nice place
Being an economist should be a requirement for holding office
No feelings, no pandering, just cold logic and letting the people do what they wish with the opportunities
No that’s colossally stupid, both the suggestion and the logic behind it
@@thepope2412 do you have an argument against it or are you just calling it stupid
@@turn3423 both
@@thepope2412 【R】【e】【t】【a】【r】【d】
@@turn3423 beautiful self description. I will give you a hint, not every economist has real experience and are like Thomas sowell
My city is heading that direction. 3 years ago, right before we moved here, the city council took a pledge to cut the mill rate in half over the next 15 years. They are taking this so seriously that when a new councilman came in and freaked out and wanted to increase the mill rate, the rest of them voted it down. They're achieving this by hiring private contractors. We used to have the worst snow plowing, now it's excellent. When we were hit by a tropical storm this summer, I was out driving in the worst of it and there were already crews cutting and moving the downed trees. Let that sink in. Roads were being cleared while the storm was still going.
This really does give residents the best service at the lowest price. They're continuing to cut where they can, and I look forward to a day of lower property taxes, increased business and increased property values.
How is this working out, 10 years later.
Crazy not great, after all that growth Democrats flocked there and made it nearly impossible for the private company’s to do business efficiently
@@sparks6177 democrats, huh? Sure🤣
Mitchell Heidt (Official Channel) yeah they are generally the ones who insist on having unions
I live there and can confirm Sparks is correct. Democrats ruin the capitalistic view and do not help to support “The American Dream”. This is happening all throughout metro Atlanta and it is coming to show.
@@mitchellheidtofficialchann308 Yes, the Democrats. What's your point? They flee from areas they ruined but don't change their voting habits and it's damaging.
I work in this area every week. I love it out there.
So a rich suburb incorporates to avoid paying taxes to the city where, presumably, they all work. Seems to be a hard formula to mess up. Claiming its success is due to PPPs is a bit of a stretch.
God for bid employees have pensions! They might even expect to retire!
These are the good kind of Republicans.
They're basically libertarians.
These are libertarians. The centered right
The Book Was Better These kind of republicans seem rare nowadays. Most seem to be anti science and logic nowadays.
@@angelgjr1999 In what way are they anti science?
dalton brasier Anti climate change. Anti virology in the middle of a global pandemic. Anything that hurts their viewpoints they call it “fake news”.
The average trump supported has the intelligence of a first grader.
I live in sandy springs as well it’s a great place to live, with lots of freedoms and gatherings outdoors.
I'm hearing that city brought back jobs is it correct and outsourcing didn't worked
To everyone Saying that this city is run like a "business" is kind of missing the point of what a economist does. An economist tries to find the most efficient solution in terms total cost and total benefits, this means that they also take into solution things that most businesses never consider like utility maximization. This city ISN'T being run like a business. It is being run like how an economist would run it. -from a economist
(Also while I like the idea of this city, I live so close I know sadly that the city is not all lollipops and rainbows. It actually has some pretty severe management and infrastructure issues.)
@从 Deadpoppin 从 no? Businesses goals are to maximize their revenue and minimize the work necessary to complete their task, this means that companies don't really take into consideration stuff like negative externalities, while Governments are forced to. Governments don't deal necessarily in revenue, but more so in utility. This is why problems such as the Principal Agent problem are so big for business.
Every Democrats ears bleed when they watch this.
I’m a democrat and I have no problem with the public/private partnership model. Unfortunately, like the man in video says, it would be virtually impossible to implement in an existing city. It’s definitely something newly incorporating cities should consider though
Sounds like there will be s lot of citys unincorporated and then reincorporated in the future to implement this then.
@@yngvaldr uhh. . . It doesn’t work like that lol
@@kiddfiddich4902 Sure it does, look up Lithia Springs Georgia.
The people got tired of being taxed by the city so they had a vote to dissolve it as an incorporated city and it passed.
@@kiddfiddich4902 so u sound like a moderate democrat...refreshing to hear...i miss the days when moderates from both sides ruled the landscape...unfortunately no more. I truly believe public sector unions have bankrupted cities and things like education and public services have suffered while politicians and a select few have gotten rich. Corruption and extremism rule the day now. Best of luck to u brother.
Hello reason, can we get an update on this story please?
What happens though, when every city starts outsourcing everything to companies and there is no government anywhere to hold any of these companies accountable for anything? This seems like it can only work for small municipalities that can leech off a regulated state economy.
It is something which works in the short term. But in the long term it falls apart because that is when you run into the problems created by paying all workers a low wage that prevents them from saving for retirement. Plus they were not constructing or maintaining infrastructure when they started. They were only paying for easily provided basic services.
Key Phrase: “when the DEMOCRATS were gone.....” PROBLEM SOLVED.....
Bolsheviks gonna Boleshevik.
Look at them now, right back at it in the worst way.
I heard that too lol
now they are coming back
@@saltymonke3682 it’s a disease.....
@James Smythe Failed? No, they reformed it and reverted to some SIMILAR MODELS.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
Outsourcing to small businesses is a great idea, as long as it stays in the community. We have the highest unemployment rate in the country and the jobs need to stay here. The huge positive is small business people are customer service orientated, meaning you would actually have a pleasant experience. It took us 6 months to get our business licenses from the city.
Hate, to say it but that is better then most places, so yeah maybe not the best but it works better then average,
I’ve grown up in chastain Park (border of Atlanta and sandy springs) all my life and i have seen some amazing improvements in the past couple years. After college I am definatly living in sand springs over Atlanta!
These are beautiful people implementing beautiful ideas. Amazing
This is a great story. Sadly, the only way to get to the public/private partnership model is to start brand new. Can you imagine NYC attempting this? It would take an act of G-d to pull that off.
Affluent community. Let's try this in an average community. Guessing the results will be quite different.
Love how they wanted “their money” to stay in their area
Spoiler: poor peoples money spends the same as affluent people's money.
Or is there some other reason you beleive poorer people have to overspend?
Or are you saying an average city can't muster up leadership that can implement such a plan?
@@MITJedi They are saying the average home value in Sandy Springs is $512,000. In contrast, in Union City, another area of Fulton County, the average home value is $145,000. Because the vast majority of local government income comes from property taxes, that means that Sandy Springs has triple the income per household than Union City. No shit they are going to have better services and no debt.
I am not saying that the mayor is/was bad, but she didn't "magically" make there be more money for them to spend.
Is it not their money?
@@Benjicmm whether it is the cause of the city's success and whether the have the right to keep the money are different questions
In 2019, the Sandy Springs City Council moved to scale back the PPP model, directly hiring 183 contract employees, leaving only 15 outsourced full-time workers by the end of 2019 The city will still outsource a number of services, including the city attorney's office, as well as security, street sweeping and ambulance services The move is expected to save $2.7 million in the next year and more than $14 million over 5 years.
Hrmm so the libertarian model still working. Good to know.
And this is why we need REPRESENTATIVES and not politicians! End politics in government!
This should be a model for other cities in the United States !
This should be a model for the United States !
The whole point of the city was to cut out the poor people in the rest of Atlanta, how is that supposed to work everywhere else?
@@AserHapi To help the poor you shouldn't give them benefits or welfare, but support them in a manner that is charity like. It's much more preferable to give a homeless person a decent paying job, through which they can rent or buy a house, rather than giving them a house which, without a job, will eventually become unsustainable and land them back in the streets. A good example of this would be several countries in Afrika that currently rely on foreign aid to develop and sustain thenselves, during which time they basically become a puppet state. If for example they were provided with limited aid only for a limited amount of times, they would eventually have to build their nations in a way that they can sustain themselves, something that despite not being easy to achieve, would in turn reward them in the long run. No one said it's a perfect system, but it's one that has proven to work.
@@highpriestofkek4081 Except you can't give people a job because there has to be viable work for them to do.
"The Sandy springs model" god I want this in my town.
Leone Maledetto Be careful what you wish for.
-a Sandy Springs resident
@@DavidMcFarner I thought you said in another comment you lived in Roswell which is North of Sandy Springs?
@@DavidMcFarner you just said you lived in Sandy Springs, you fucking liar. you're nothing but a lying shitbag.
@@susanhubbart5494 He did indeed say that, I hate lying shitbags.
"In 2019, the Sandy Springs City Council moved to scale back the PPP model, directly hiring 183 contract employees, leaving only 15 outsourced full-time workers by the end of 2019.[17] The city will still outsource a number of services, including the city attorney's office, as well as security, street sweeping and ambulance services.[17] The move is expected to save $2.7 million in the next year and more than $14 million over 5 years."
Breaks my heart.
Sandy Springs recently moved to de-outsource.
From Wikipedia: In 2019, the Sandy Springs City Council moved to scale back the PPP model, directly hiring 183 contract employees, leaving only 15 outsourced full-time workers by the end of 2019.[18] The city will still outsource a number of services, including the city attorney's office, as well as security, street sweeping and ambulance services.[18] The move is expected to save $2.7 million in the next year and more than $14 million over 5 years.[16][18]
Makes a lot of sense, so long as outsourcing means local.
2:25 it became possible when majority of legislators shift from democrats than Republicans.
This is proof positive that less government and open competition can benefit everyone. Sandy Springs worked out solutions within their financial means and emerged successful to benefit it's constituents. This worked for their situation and should be applauded for their ingenuity and success.
I work in Sandy Springs and love the place. Yes way better than the rest of Atlanta/Fulton county. It’s clean without any litter on the streets. Everything works. I agree that outsourcing city services to private companies help as you’re guaranteed to get the job done since those companies have many employees that will do the job no matter what.
Working directly for the city means the employees do whatever at their own pace since their salaries are guaranteed but working for a private firm, you have to earn your pay. There’s more accountability. Drive around the city and appreciate the beauty then go to other towns like Atlanta & notice the difference. It’s only Buckhead that’s in the best shape simply because it’s a rich folks area but other parts of Atlanta are neglected by the city.
Had to get Democrats out of the way 1st to make a sensible decision.
And Repblicans too, because we all know they are the same big Gov...
+Rickey Ryan Republicans passed the bill though, so I'm not really sure what you are on about.
If you listen to republicans, they are the salvation of our country. Doesn't seem to jive with the reality. Greedy bastards, mostly.
the problem is the city kept spending money on BS, all the city did was hire people for lower wages and now pay a company money to do it, i a few years they will have the same problem again
David Farner Greed is what made Sandy Springs incorporate. They were latched to a much poorer part of Atlanta. The poor people kept making these people pay very large property taxes. Basically the whole Robin Hood story. Except in that story the rich had initially taken from the poor. These people never took from the poor. Instead they were treated unfairly through taxation. Which is just government backed theft when the contributions are unequal. They escaped their oppressors, and I am proud of them and happy for them. We could talk about the many cities in California that have filed for bankruptcy.
I’m case y’all missed it, the key part of the story is they’re an affluent community. When you start with a lot of money, it’s easier to do things differently. They’re not reinventing the wheel, they just have enough money to buy new wheels.
You must have missed the part where they're spending half as much money as they used to and are providing better service. With no increase in taxes and actually has reserves.
@@chasl3645 what they stated still stands. They have more money, just because they claim to spend half of what they used to doesn’t mean that the affluence of the city isnt he reason is has changed.
@@ericolson3851 Theirs never enough money when it comes to municipalities. They're all at various stages of corruption.
And they never operate within a budget. So let's just give this town credit for doing it.
This should be a standard across the country
I used to do volunteer work for the city of Laguna Niguel in California which is mostly a "bedroom community" with a limited commercial tax-base. They had adopted the same outsourcing strategy from their founding in 1988 and had zero debt, a fully funded pension for their small government staff, and nice clean parks, good roads, etc. They had a "roads" department of 2 who drove around to decide which roads were in need of maintenance and evaluate the quality of the repairs done by outside contractors. Any contractor whose repairs didn't last as long as others was handicapped on future bids. When they went to build a city hall, they were told it would take over 10x's what it ultimately cost. How? They hired a retired builder to do all the contract packages to get the best bids possible, and then control the execution of the project. The parks guy just checks on the quality of trash removal/cleanup and landscaping by contractors. Similar strategies in all departments.
"It is possible if your efficient"...The truest of words (6:19).
I am in love. Of course nothing is perfect, but this seems a solid "9".
News Flash: a rich small city's government is in good fiscal condition. Call me crazy, but I think keeping a wealthy place wealthy isn't as challenging as ending poverty where poverty prevails.
As long as the money stays within the city, it can work.
I didn't know about any of this and I live here
Thats a big difference from total government control to outsourcing to the private sector... Look at how much $$ they've saved & how great their town looks... Now imagine if we went full blast, all private! I can only dream
its a rich people town, they commute to work, all they did was fire the people making a living wage and hire people for about 1/2 that
THIS is how government should be. Government collects taxes from people to provide public services like trash pickup, maintaining roads, etc. then they use those taxes to pay PRIVATE CONTRACTORS to provide those services to the public. If those private contractors want to get paid, they need to provide good service, or the city will simply find someone else. There is competition which encourages exemplary service in exchange for fair pay, and creates jobs for people in the community.
After working in a government department, I'm sure that private enterprise is at least 1000% more efficient. I would actually get chastised by my managers if I worked too fast or implemented any optimisations in our office.
Suh Cars there is a reason why everyone has issues at the dmv lol
I do that at my house my wife says that I am lazy. I prove to her that we save money by having somebody else mow our lawn somebody else remove our snow. I don't have to maintain anyting I don't have to carry any insurance or something gets damaged and I can be in where it's warm in the winter and cool in the summer
Youre just lazy lol
A few details left out about sandy springs, they are a rich area by GA standards with a higher median household income than most of the state, they have a fairly high city tax rate 7% sales tax, 6% income tax. They also have a higher percentage of individuals making over 200k per year than most places. www.bestplaces.net/economy/city/georgia/sandy_springs
Berning Sandwiches the medium average is about 11,000$ more than the state. And so what? Governments are ran by people, people are currupt, especially when given power over others. More government control doesn't mean more control by " we the people" it means more control by a pesky few that line their own pockets overreaching in people's lives and wallets
Its a richer area where the new city government left all the debt with the old city when they separated. Its got nothing to do with privatizing the services. They just spin it that way because this is a libertarian channel.
Berning Sandwiches there was no city government, did you not watch the video? They were a part of Fulton county, and they Incorporated, they did not leave an existing city with anything.
kandysman86 oh my mistake, they left the county with all of the debts which were partially incurred by them. It doesn't change the fact that they disassociated themselves with debts which were incurred in part by providing services for their town. They are also an "affluent community" which provides the local government with a larger budget relative to population to operate with.
I'd like to see a success story of a relatively impoverished town bettering itself through use of conservative policies.
Berning Sandwiches I still don't think you understand. The amount of money taken in taxes from this area far outpaced what was spent there. There was no debt to leave behind. This area left Fulton county with a surplus as far as what went out and what came in. So all they did was start keeping their taxes and spending it on their own services. Now the area can live up to its potential. Their are no "conservative policies" in practice anywhere. There is ideological problems with social issues that "conservatives" use to pray on some fears of their constituents, which gets them elected, but they just play lip service to actual conservative limited government ideology. Because of this, the crony capitalism kills our potential because it puts the power in the hands of the government to control the market. As I said before, people with authority over you will invariably abuse it. All human history bares this out. So liberal socialist policies are doomed to fail from inception, because they put MORE power and control in the government's hands.
Without all the front end regulation, the free market would prevent any company from getting to big and controlling so much of the economy. They use republicans and dems alike to pass laws and create regulations making entry into a market all but impossible for anyone but the rich. This is why less government control over your life is important. The only regulation should be on the back end (consumer protection) and never barring entry into the market.
More government, more corruption. It's really that simple. Every city should follow this model.
Kind of reminds me of this old story of a small 13 state colony who was tired of the suppressive government at the time taking everything from them and giving them nothing for it. That is until the colony became the very thing it sought out to destroy.
They talked a lot about pensions and other benefits, but didn't really address whether the city employees were better off under the private/public partnership than before. I fear that the cut costs may have come out of the workers' pockets.
That is a good question that I would also like to know the answer to. I assumed that the amount of money workers received stayed the same, it just moved from the form of a pension/benefits to immediate wages. I would also keep in mind that if some of the money did come out of salaries, then salaries would just be moving closer to market rates.
If the city were paying the same amount under this system as it would with only publicly owned services, I doubt the mayor would be so thrilled about the savings. The savings must have come from somewhere (they're spending less on some part of the deal). On top of that, a for-profit company is now doing all of this stuff, which means that in addition to paying the contractor's operating expenses, some of the money goes to profit for the company. This is in contrast to the public sector, wherein there is no profit. So, if the overall amount spent on these city services is less, and some of it is now extracted by private shareholders as profit,... well, there's less left over to pay the expenses of the contractor, like materials, transportation, and wages. The materials and transportation must cost about the same as they would have in the public sector, right? Where would costs be cut? Seems obvious (especially since they talked about benefits as a category of costs that have been cut). When you spend less on something, it's generally smaller or worse. Unless they've found a way to get more health insurance and retirement for their dollar, I think they saved money at the workers' expense.
@@RobertWarrenGilmore There is countless ways to save money. If you figure out how to do the same work more efficiently, then you do not need to pay your workers less. The problem with the public sector is that they have no incentive to lower costs, and so they operate in a less efficient manner. Modern society exists because people had incentives to "get more for less", the idea that you can only lower costs by paying your workers less is absurd. You're right that some of the savings have probably come out of wages, but why should the taxpayer be expected to pay higher than market rates?
@@Benjicmm Never mind market rates - the rate should be fair. There are a lot of people who are only qualified for manual labour. That abundance drives the market rate down. The market rate for manual labour is a poverty wage. It's unethical to pay a poverty wage regardless of whether it's the market rate.
@@RobertWarrenGilmore The average annual income of a janitor in sandy springs is $26,144, thats more then $10,000 above the poverty line. Market rates are generally quite fair, and cannot be altered seriously without severe repercussions.
(I got my numbers from zip recruiter(probably skewed upward tbh) and Georgia.gov(i used number for single person house hold)
How did this end up on my recommended list in 2020? Anyhow, Im shocked to hear government wasted money.... would have never guessed that...
Fiscal accountability. Now that's the way to run a city or country! No one is above the law and no politician is a celebration. Excellent work.
Such a great idea.
It would be interesting to see more communities and even states decide to follow this model of success, but were talking about government fiefdoms and all of the graft that come with them.
My water bill more then doubled when it went private.
They did not mention using local business or residents for any of the services to keep the money local.
Actually the town said that had they kept control of the water the price would have gone up as much as 10 percent. Then this company offered to come in and take over without raising the rates. The privatize everything crowd fell for it and the prices more then doubled shortly after.
TagGeorge so you're saying the company that said they wouldn't raise the rates did raise the rates? Was not raising the rates in their contract and if it was then wouldn't that be a breach of contract?
I do not have a copy of the contract nor have I seen it. I just remember getting a letter from the town stating the proposal from the company.
oh no, you had a 15 dollar a month bill go to 30? Disaster!
@@warriorcaste4304 I like how people who lean and hope to the "right", seem to think their party's greasy politicians, are somehow immune from being bribed, some way, some how.
Also the whole "if you disagree with me, then that automatically makes you a dirty liberal!" argument. It's like they're all complete assholes or something, I don't know, I just can't tell!
I am from Switzerland and your success is caused mainly by your independence and not by the outsourcing. Switzerland is doing that very strictly since generations. The tax collecting and spending is organised as local as possible and only a fraction is passed on to the main government. communities know best where to spend their tax money efficiently... This is the whole secret, why Swiss tax is low and is spent very beneficial to the people. Switzerland does not outsource services and it still works perfectly.
Outstanding Work!!
Meanwhile, in California, we have retired city librarians making over $200k in annual pensions.
They started reversing this in 2018, when they realized the private sector is as lazy and inefficient as the public sector.
How so, specifically? I'm genuinely curious.
@@toddsmith5715 they announced that they were finding it not as cost effective as they thought and began hiring staff to do some of the jobs.
See the AJC May 17, 2019
"Sandy Springs residents won’t notice much of a change as the city transitions from an outsourced workforce to one that is primarily staffed by government employees.
That’s because the vast majority of city contractors have left their company jobs to work for the municipality full-time. Of the 139 contractors to whom the city made employment offers, 127 took the jobs, said city spokeswoman Sharon Kraun."
How does that have anything to do with the private sector being lazy?
@@AnthonySparta that was a play on the stereotype that the private sector is more productive and efficient than the public sector as a rule. Which it is not.
This is a fascinating story but it seems like they have been very lucky with their business partners. Imagine if this was tried on a larger city, and the outsourced company failed to live up to their agreements and expectations. The results could be disastrous as everyone is pointing fingers and nobody knows who's really accountable. I really wonder how the "worst case scenario" would play out in a traditional model versus this outsourced model?
It was coming out in different comments that the city is just going with whatever allows them to save money, which has recently come from hiring the workers out of the contracting companies.
Of course, you can go too far in saving money if you leave important capital goods in the hands of private investors who hold you hostage before you can get those capital goods back.
You have multiple companies competing for leases. Government can still end the lease and blacklist companies that fail to meet expectations, and companies will always compete with each other to drive traffic i.e. the different companies trying to create the best park, have the best railways to drive freight into dense cities etc.
The worst case scenario is the maintainers being held unaccountable for the work they do, overspending, delivering poor quality work i.e. New York City.
Seven years later... is there any follow-up from Reason on Sandy Springs? I would be curious to see where the city stands now.
doing great
This is what the whole country could be and should have been. Without certain detracting factors we could all live and work safely in a Sandy Springs of our own.
You mean the majority of us working in low paying temp jobs while the few at the top reap the cream?
I'd like to see them revisit this town and see how the pandemic has affected them. Would be an interesting video.
Doesn't need to be during the pandemic. It failed before the pandemic.
@@gannibalof21st how do you know
@@t7vrxn look it up online.
@@t7vrxn are you really asking this question on the internet? where any information is just seconds away.
@@t7vrxn It didn't it is currently rated one of the most affluent cities in the US (top 10) and one of the best places to live. It is a massive success compared to when it was bankrupt and literally hasn't "failed" at all. Do not listen to people who tell you "just look it up".