Innovators 2009 in Action Edited by Leonard C. Gilroy Reason Foundation Bob Carr Angele Davis Sonny Perdue Former Premier, Louisiana Commissioner Georgia Governor New South Wales (Australia) of Administration Paul Pastorek Gene Saffold Louisiana State Gregory Ballard Chief Financial Officer, Superintendent of Education Indianapolis Mayor City of Chicago Oliver Porter Henry Garrigo Eric Gillespie Former Chairman, Former Director, CIO & Senior VP, Sandy Springs (GA) Florida Council Onvia Charter Commission on Efficient Government Innovators in Action Contents 1 24 Introduction: Innovators in Action Looking Before You Leap Into Privatization Edited by Leonard C. Gilroy Interview with Henry Garrigo, former Director, Florida Council on Efficient Government 3 The Public Enterprise System: Managing for 31 Better Value in Government We Have to Do Better: Fiscal Challenges By Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Demand Creative Government Interview with Indianapolis Mayor Gregory Ballard 9 Good Roads Sooner: PPPs in New South Wales 38 By Bob Carr, former Premier, New South Wales, Chicago’s Parking Meter Lease: a Win-Win-Win Australia for Motorists, Taxpayers and the City By Gene Saffold, Chief Financial Officer, City of 13 Chicago Streamlining Louisiana: Driving Government Reform in an Era of Fiscal Crisis 42 Interview with Angele Davis, Louisiana Public-Private Partnerships for Local Commissioner of Administration Governments: The Sandy Springs Model By Oliver Porter, former Chairman, Sandy Springs 18 (Georgia) Charter Commission Lifting All Boats in Louisiana: A Vision for Transforming Louisiana’s Education System 48 Interview with Paul Pastorek, Louisiana State Tracking Taxpayer Capital: Recovery.org vs. Superintendent of Education Recovery.gov By Eric Gillespie, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President, Onvia I n t r o d u c t I o n Innovators in Action 2009 Editor’s Note By Leonard C. Gilroy The year 2009 will be remembered as a diffi- seem more concerned with preserving agency lar- cult year for policymakers at all levels of govern- gesse than trying to eliminate it. ment who had to confront the harsh combina- Luckily, some policymakers recognize the tion of a major global recession, record budget problem and take seriously the need to reduce deficits, failed federal economic intervention, and the size and cost of government while ensuring turmoil in the financial markets. The conver- that core public services are delivered efficiently. gence of these challenges has helped expose what They understand that the current fiscal path in government reinvention guru and author David our public institutions is unsustainable. They Osborne has called a “perpetual fiscal crisis” in accept the reality that there’s no way to avoid our public institutions. government downsizing and market-based And 2009 is just the beginning, as the reces- reforms. And more importantly, they are willing sionary effects are expected to linger for several to take aggressive steps and spend political capi- years. The National Governor’s Association and tal to achieve them. National Association of State Budget Officers are The innovators profiled in this edition of predicting a “lost fiscal decade” for state govern- Reason Foundation’s Innovators in Action offer ments, and the fiscal outlook for other levels of unique examples of leadership through action on government is similarly bleak. When faced with such challenges, policymak- ers typically have one of two reactions. Unfortu- nately for taxpayers, the most common reaction is to resort to ill-advised strategies like tax and fee hikes, accounting gimmicks and higher debt to paper over the problem and avoid making needed reductions in government spending. These approaches inevitably hurt taxpayers, stifle economic development and are hardly justified, as the growth of government spending in recent years has far outpaced inflation, population and wages for ordinary Americans. This expansion of government is unsustain- able and must be undone. Yet even with the fiscal handwriting on the wall, many policymakers still Innovators I n a c t I o n 1 privatization, competition, government re-inven- proposals and maximize value for taxpayer tion and other market-based reforms designed to money. reduce the costs of government and deliver more n Chicago’s Chief Financial Officer value to taxpayers: Gene Saffold oversaw the Windy n Shortly after taking office, Georgia Governor City’s groundbreaking—though Sonny Perdue created the Commission on a controversial—$1.15 billion lease of the New Georgia, an advisory group of corporate city’s downtown parking meter system in executives partnering with the state to re- 2009. As with the toll road and parking engineer its bureaucratic machinery into a garage leases that preceded it, Chicago’s 21st Century business model. Gov. Perdue’s parking meter lease demonstrated to local goal was “to transform Georgia to the best- officials across the country just how much managed state in America.” you can achieve when you use privatization n Former New South Wales, Australia to unlock the inherent value currently Premier Bob Carr was elected on a platform trapped in government-owned assets. hostile to privately financed toll roads, but n Former AT&T executive Oliver Porter led a subsequently came to embrace—and even citizen task force that created the template for champion—them as a means of delivering the largely privatized government in Sandy infrastructure better, faster and cheaper than Springs, Georgia, a model that has since been traditional government approaches. replicated in several recently incorporated n Louisiana Commissioner of Administration cities nearby. According to Porter, “Imagine Angele Davis is playing a central starting a new city of over 90,000 people implementation role in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s with only two employees. We did it.” wide-ranging efforts to streamline the state n Chief Information OfficerEric Gillespie and bureaucracy, which include a package of his colleagues at Onvia saw major gaps in the privatization, budget reforms and other smart federal government’s commitment and ability fiscal management strategies. to deliver on stimulus spending transparency— n Under the leadership of State Superintendent and they stepped in to fill it by creating of Education Paul Pastorek, Louisiana’s Recovery.org at a fraction of the cost it took burgeoning school choice movement is using the feds to create their own Recovery.gov. transparency, standards and accountability Taxpayers owe these innovators a debt of to improve student achievement and turn gratitude, as do I. Reason Foundation’s exten- around low-performing schools. sive work to research and assist policymakers in n Since taking office in January 2008, implementing market-based policies in govern- Indianapolis Mayor Gregory Ballard has ment would not be possible if there were not advanced an array of competition and bold innovators like these ready and willing to government reform initiatives designed advance them in practice and demonstrate that to control costs, improve government they work. performance, address core city needs and For the future fiscal health of our governments bring best business practices to government. and the economic health of our nation, we should all hope the examples and experiences offered by n Former Florida Council on Efficient these innovators will inspire and guide reform- Government Executive Director Henry minded officials at all levels of government. Garrigo helped to create a national model for Leonard Gilroy is the Director of Govern- a state center of excellence in privatization to ment Reform at Reason Foundation n ensure sound decisionmaking on outsourcing . 2 rEason FoUnDATIon • rEason.orG I n n o VA t o r S I n A c t I o n The Public Enterprise System: Managing for Better Value in Government By Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue As I traveled the state as a new governor, I basis, for more than six years. The transforma- would make a point to swing by the local driv- tion has moved across a succession of diverse ers’ license office to see how long the lines were state functions and services large and small, sys- running. The license bureau is one of the few tematically and sensibly changing the way we do state offices just about every Georgian over 16 business. had to visit every few years, dreading the day. The operative word is “business”—which In this little finger of a massive state bureau- some would say is the opposite of “bureau- cracy was embodied much of what drives citizens cracy.” The reality is that government will crazy about dealing with their government—pro- always be organized in bureaus, which is not cessing that drags on for hours through waiting mutually exclusive with being a business-like lines, form shuffling, and public service employ- operation. The concept that pulls the organiza- ees who forgot their middle name. The message tion and operations together is the “enterprise” to citizens: “that’s just the way government does and how its resources are strategically managed things”… because it can. I was advised that the licensing process could be “fixed” with a $20 million system. Six years later, there is no $20 million fix, but statewide, the average time in line for a license renewal is now about six minutes. Or you can skip getting in line by going online. The license process went from embarrassment to the perfect example of how state government can be “faster, friendlier, easier” for Georgians. What happened at license bureaus is one small victory for taxpayers in the “quiet revolu- tion” that has been taking hold in Georgia state government on a day-by-day, office-by-office Innovators I n a c t I o n 3 to give maximum value for the tax dollar. In the 100 silos. Any CEO knows you can’t manage best possible world, a public enterprise is driven what you can’t measure. by the value motive: the optimum nexus of qual- Government’s monopoly on state services ity and cost in things that matter to the taxpayer.