Privatization at Work in Kansas City

State and Local Government | February 11, 2009

By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

The Kansas City Star has a nice article about a soon-to-be-decided proposal that would privatize the Kansas City Animal Shelter. From the article, it sounds like this bill, which would turn management over to a private vet clinic, is expected to pass soon. This seems like an exciting example of privatization at work in Missouri. Hopefully, it will work out as well as privatization of the county pharmacy did for St. Louis County. The animal shelter bill is expected to save taxpayers $175,000 per year, but I am sure the animals would rather be taken care of by government employees than be subjected to the cold, hard hands of capitalism.

About the Author

David Stokes

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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