Even in the poorest counties government officials maintain that they are able to deliver the government services their citizens demand at a reasonable cost. The explanation for the success of our local government system in Colorado is that local governments have learned to live with a budget constraint. As local governments face hard budget constraints they have more incentive to be efficient and to economize on scarce financial resources. This results in consolidation and downsizing that delivers government services at lower cost. There is incentive for privatization of a wide range of government services from garbage collection to recreation, where the private sector can provide the services more efficiently than local governments.
Great diversity is also evident in local government response to tax and spending limits in Colorado.
The purpose of tax and spending limits is to constrain the growth of revenue and expenditures, and reduce the tax burden on citizens. At the local level tax and spending limits work pretty much as they were envisioned. Mill levies are adjusted to conform to these fiscal constraints. Local governments have the option of seeking voter approval for an increase in the mill levy. Nearly four thousand of these fiscal issues have been placed on local ballots in the past nine years.