Somebody should play Taps. Cincinnati City Council buried its bright-eyed babe "managed competition" last week before it could grow to healthy adulthood. Mayor Charlie Luken and Councilman David Crowley presided over the burial, and only David Pepper, Pat DeWine and John Cranley denounced the sham. It sends the worst message - that this city is more concerned about keeping City Hall employees happy than keeping city taxpayers here at all.

Cincinnati is losing population and faces a $60 million deficit by 2008 unless it can find big cost savings or discover some major new source of revenue. Other cities have saved millions of dollars by allowing private companies to bid against city crews to supply basic services. If a council majority claims it has found a better cost-saver than managed competition, it owes taxpayers more that a three-word IOU called "Innovative Service Solutions." Crowley submitted that promissory note without a manager's report or a plan, and council passed it. All "Innovative Service Solutions" means is city units will review how to do their jobs more efficiently. Shouldn't they do that anyway?

Two years ago, the mayor and council said they'd give managed competition a chance here, and spent $100,000 for CGS Consulting of Indianapolis to advise on best practices. Indianapolis has had great success with managed competition, often without costing front-line workers' jobs. Council here adopted several protections for city workers, including a living wage ordinance. The very first managed competition project was a big success. A Public Works crew came up with a clever plan that saved the city $206,000 on street-sweepers, nearly doubled lane-miles swept and no workers lost jobs. The city manager gave the crew the city's top award. The mayor/council's conclusion: OK, it worked; let's get rid of it.

Luken and Crowley say city workers shouldn't have to work under the threat of losing their jobs. Crowley even credits service reviews for the street-sweeping success, although the plan didn't develop until city crews faced the threat of their work going to an outside supplier. Crowley raises the scare that cities can get stuck if private providers bail out. He does make a good point that outside bidders can cherry-pick easy, lucrative work and leave the worst for the city, but the city can prevent such abuses in its requests for proposals. Now that managed competition is dead, show us the money. Show us the cost-savings that will take its place.