The following excerpts are taken from the City of Fort Worth's Privatization Report, released in February 1995.

Over the past several years, budget restraints have increased the pressure on city management to become more innovative and creative in the way it does business. Privatization of city services is one of the methods cities have begun to use in an attempt to become more efficient.

Services Privatized

• Janitorial Services: The city contracts with outside vendors to provide cleaning services for the Police and Fire Training Academy, Police Administration, the Libraries, and numerous outlying city facilities. Janitorial services at the City Hall complex are performed by work release individuals. By using work release individuals to perform janitorial work, the department was able to realize a savings of $57,347.
  
  
• Zoo: The city entered into a contract with the Fort Worth Zoological Association for the operation and maintenance of the zoo in October 1991. The city has realized a number of benefits from contracting out the Fort Worth Zoo. The most significant benefit has been the donor resources available to the Zoological Association to market the zoo and finance capital improvements. As a result of the Zoological Association's marketing, zoo attendance figures have gone from 514,996 in 1990 to over 1 million visitors in 1994.
  
  Capital improvements by the Zoological Society have totaled in excess of $18 million, with at least $6 million in new improvements planned for the next several years. These improvements include new animal exhibits, major improvements to hospitality facilities, and maintenance infra- structure. Under the contract, the city pays for any utility improvements needed for construction. Upon completion of a construction project, the Zoological Association deeds the improvement over to the city and establishes a maintenance endowment equal to 5 percent of the improvement's construction cost to assure the future upkeep of the facility. The General Fund allocation of funds prior to privatization was $2,767,530 and the current contract amount is $2,274,400.
  
  
• Z-Boaz and Rockwood Golf Courses: Operation and maintenance is provided by American Golf and International Golf respectively. The contractors pay the city a percentage of all golf rounds played on their courses except senior rounds. This means the city nets $200,000 and $300,000 annually in revenue.
  
  The city has no operating expenses at either of the two contracted golf courses. The proceeds from the contracted courses are invested in capital improvements projects at the three remaining courses. The net savings to the city are $387,345 and nine authorized positions at Z-Boaz; $33,713 and 10 authorized positions at Rockwood.
  
  
• Alliance Airport Management: Aviation contracts with Alliance Air Services for the operation and maintenance of Alliance Airport at a cost savings of $100,000 to the city. Privatization was an attempt to expedite the necessary capital improvements at the airport such as terminal building construction, and runway repairs, at a nominal cost to the citizens.
  
  
• Grounds Maintenance: In fiscal 1992–92 Parks & Community Services privatized the mowing of parks, medians, and the grounds around many city facilities, realizing $362,801 in savings and eliminated 11 positions.
  
  
• Water Meter Reading: Meter reading was privatized in August 1993. The contract provides for penalties to be paid by the contractor for misreads, thus encouraging accuracy and quality of meter reading. As a result of privatizing the meter reading function, the department was able to eliminate 20 authorized positions and realized $209,324 in savings.

Services Reviewed for Privatization and Rejected

• Street Light Maintenance: Maintaining this function in-house is cheaper, and complaints regarding street lighting are usually greater in those cities where street lighting is contracted out, since contractors do not have the same concerns for quality.
  
  
• Building Maintenance: This can be done less costly using city forces.

For more information, please call the Office of the City Manager at 817-871-6111.