With more than 10,000 signatures on a petition, I believe the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation is in a position to speak with "the voice of the people."

What do the taxpayers of Buckhead really want?

Reduction of taxes. This can be accomplished by privatizing city services such as garbage pickup, airport management, maintenance of parks and recreation centers and wastewater treatment.

According to the highly respected Reason Foundation, "72 percent of all cities have outsourced garbage pickup, 68 percent have outsourced fleet management, 66 percent have outsourced information systems, 58 percent have outsourced airport management and operations, 76 percent have outsourced wastewater treatment and water service and 82 percent have outsourced road maintenance." The newly formed cities of Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Milton have outsourced all city services. The average millage rate of Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Milton is 4.69 mills, compared to Atlanta's 7.9 mills. Atlanta could do the same and experience huge savings.

The Atlanta City Council deserves tremendous credit for approving a slight decrease in the millage rate on Friday, overruling Mayor Shirley Franklin's proposed budget. This would be the perfect moment to outsource city services. The Taxpayers Foundation proposes adopting performance-based standards for every city employee. Prior to the recent layoffs of several hundred employees, Atlanta employed 9,600 employees, compared with 5,200-5,600 in Charlotte, Indianapolis and Phoenix.

Franklin has now publicly acknowledged that Atlanta's three pension funds (fire, police, general employees) and the employees' health care contributions are underfunded. According to state requirements, Atlanta must increase its contributions by $100 million annually. This underfunding has demoralized the firemen, policemen and the general employees and is but another symptom of gross mismanagement of taxpayers' funds.

The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation is well aware that the formation of a City of Buckhead will not pass the Fulton delegation of the Georgia General Assembly. However, with more than 10,000 signatures from Buckhead residents, the mayor and City Council should listen carefully to "the voice of the people."

> John S. Sherman is president of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation.