Chapter 88: The Price of Civic Favor

Every city had certain special jobs that did not generate much profit, while City Hall was unwilling to do them itself. City sanitation workers, regional service companies, public-benefit undertakings, things of that sort.

In the past, these jobs had all been managed by the Department of Social Services. Later, for various reasons, the final decision was to contract them out to specialized companies and firms.

Just like Sabine City’s public transportation. That, too, was one of the public service businesses spun out from the Department of Social Services.

Because these businesses, such as city sanitation, garbage disposal stations, and various companies like orphanages and nursing homes, had a hard time finding anything profitable in their operations, they could not possibly rely on sanitation workers sweeping streets to make great piles of money. So City Hall would provide a certain amount of financial subsidy as appropriate, while also giving them some policy preference.

For example, in taxation, they would receive certain reductions or exemptions, thereby encouraging large companies to take on more social responsibility voluntarily.

So did that mean only unprofitable public service companies could receive subsidies?

In truth, not necessarily. Everyone knew how profitable a city transit company could be. How to determine whether a company had reached the standard for receiving a subsidy depended entirely on its political value and political significance.

If necessary, Sabine City’s city administrators would first let out a little wind, such as what they wanted to do, then hold several hearings to listen to the opinions of industry experts and certain voices from society. As long as everyone felt there was no problem, the subsidy could come down.

There was one line that could not be touched: the public could not be made to feel that doing this was unnecessary. In the words of the media, the Federation government was an efficient, clean government that never wasted taxpayers’ money.

Citizens might not be good at certain other things, but declaring their identity as taxpayers and making a little noise over it, that they knew how to do.

But William’s Secondhand Auction ... it did not look like a public-benefit undertaking. At most, it had a little connection to the nature of social services.

That made the expression on Ferraler’s face somewhat complicated. On one hand, he felt William was not easy to deal with. At the same time, he had the feeling that after calling other people fools all day, he had finally become a fool himself.

Once William could eat a subsidy, the salary he paid Ferraler might not even amount to one percent of that subsidy. Although that money had nothing to do with him, Ferraler still felt as though he had taken a loss.