Currently most metropolitan regions are composed of governments of various sizes. The fact of this variation and the fact that public goods can in varying degree be provided by private companies. For example, private garbage collection is recognized as being more efficient than public garbage collection. It is important to note that small government units provide most local public services through contracts with private firms and larger governmental units. For example, a small village might purchase police services from the county sheriffs department. The political economy of local public services is very complicated and in many respects resembles a market because dissatisfied customers ``vote with their feetÕÕ if they move to a different governmental unit. Thus competition is a very important aspect of local public services because local governments are constantly trying to acquire business relocations based on good services and amenities and low cost(taxes).