The Completely Privatized City

Reporter David Segal explains that while many cities have experimented with privatizing city services, "...few have taken the idea as far as Sandy Springs."

The city manager (one of the few city workers actually collecting a paycheck from the city) says the system is a proven success. Everything from building licenses to the courts are supplied by private firms in Sandy Springs. But critics contend that the community's wealth is the only thing making it possible.

But Sandy Springs is actually not the most privatized city in the country, a distinction that goes to Maywood, California, "...eight miles southeast of Los Angeles, which in 2010 fired all but one employee, its city manager. Maywood is now operated, from top to bottom, through contracts."