Reducing Costs in Times of Crisis: Delivery Forms in Small and Medium Sized Local Governments' Waste Management Services

Abstract

The current economic crisis is increasingly affecting the public sector, requiring stricter control of deficits, and local administrations are not exempt from these requirements. Therefore, it is essential to consider management forms that may produce cost savings in the provision of public services. In this article we propose an evaluation of municipal waste collection and disposal services to determine whether single/joint or public/private municipal service provision, together with other factors including quality, political aspects, and the socio‐economic environment, most contribute to reducing costs. The results obtained for the period 2002–08 show that joint management (inter‐municipal cooperation) and public management (in relation to single and private management systems, respectively) have a greater effect on reducing the costs of this service. Thus, small and medium‐sized local authorities can identify formulas for reducing costs and thus be in a better position to overcome the economic crisis.

The efficiency and effectiveness of municipally owned corporations: a systematic review

“…Garrone, Grilli, and Rousseau (2013) and Sørensen (2007) emphasise that the managerial autonomy of joint MOCs creates monitoring problems in Norway (Sørensen 2007) and goal conflict in Italy (Garrone, Grilli, and Rousseau 2013), which outweigh gains from the exploitation of economies of scale. Bel and Fageda (2006) and Zafra-Gómez et al (2013) observe the opposite effect in Spain, finding that small localities gain efficiency from cooperation with other localities through public firms. In the Dutch waste industry, MOCs do better than bureaucracy and as well as private firms .…”

Local Governments and Local Waste Management in the Czech Republic: Producers or Providers?

“…Th e hypothesis for this variable is a negative correlation, which is also confi rmed by a number of the studies mentioned above (for example Bel and Costas 2006;Sørensen 2007;Bel and Mur 2009;Dijkgraaf and Gradus 2013;Zafra-Gómez et al 2013;Gradus et al 2014, etc. ).…”

“…Callan and Th omas 2001;Dijkgraaf and Gradus 2003;Ohlsson 2003;Bel and Costas 2006;Sø-rensen 2007;Bel and Mur 2009;Dijkgraaf and Gradus 2013;Zafra-Gómez et al 2013;Gradus et al 2014;Soukopová et al 2014;Bel and Warner 2008;Soukopová et al 2016). Regardless of this broad discussion, there is no general agreement whether the local governments should prefer to deliver their services as producers or providers.…”

Inter-Municipal Cooperation and Satisfaction with Services: Evidence from the Norwegian Citizen Study

“…For example, a study by Sørensen (2007) finds that refuse collection companies with several municipal owners operate with a higher cost per unit than those with a single (municipal) owner. On the other hand, some researchers argue that cooperation does reduce costs (e.g., Bel et al, 2014;Bel & Costas, 2006;Zafra-Gómez et al, 2013).…”