If you saw a well-kept and able-bodied person panhandling in a tuxedo, would you give them money? Probably not. A new report by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) shows municipalities are doing just that -- "tuxedo panhandling." Instead of calling for new taxes, they should roll up their sleeves and do a better job with the resources they have.

Known as the "Beggar's Checklist," the CTF report doesn't question that a number of roads and bridges in Canada need tender loving care. Rather, it examines what municipalities are doing with the funds we provide them now.

The report concludes that municipalities could reduce costs and raise revenues by immediately pursuing 10 initiatives. In fact, the CTF recommends provincial and federal politicians demand those initiatives be completed before entertaining any new funding discussions with municipalities.

First, municipalities should tackle lucrative employee salaries and benefits, bringing them in line with the private sector. Benefits unheard of in the private sector, such as Toronto garbage workers' ability to carry over 18 sick days per year, should be abolished immediately.

One way to reduce expensive municipal labour pools is by opening municipal services up to competition --and there's a fair way to do it.

According to former Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith, when his city opened up a number of services to competition in the 1990s, existing employees were allowed to bid to provide the services. In some cases, they even beat out private sector companies.

For example, once the city's existing pothole repair crews faced the threat of job losses, services improved dramatically. When city employees put in their bid to supply pothole repair services, they cut management overhead dramatically, reduced their crews from eight men and two trucks to five men and one truck and even remounted some patching equipment.

Not surprisingly, costs dropped by 25% while their productivity increased 68%. The crews knew all along what had to be done, but never had the incentive to improve.

In 2005, Winnipeg contracted out a portion of the city's garbage collection and saw similar results. Annual costs fell by 36% while complaints dropped by 20% to 25%. Better service at a lower price -- a win-win for taxpayers.

Nationwide, municipalities could save billions by subjecting garbage collection, park maintenance, payroll services, street repair and other municipal functions to competition.

Another item on the Beggar's Checklist is using volunteers to help provide some municipal services. Canadians are a charitable bunch, always willing to pitch in and help improve their communities, yet some union agreements stifle the usage of volunteers.

Take Montreal, for example, where a union grievance prevented the city from asking shopkeepers to clean in front of their stores, as it infringed on city union jobs. Stories like this are common in Canada.

Sacramento, Calif., on the other hand, widely accepts volunteers, utilizing their goodwill to provide clerical duties, care for zoo animals and provide a variety of other services. Removing barriers to volunteering at the municipal level could reduce labour costs for Canadian municipalities.

Utilizing technology could also produce dramatic results. Los Angeles uses transponders on buses to communicate with upcoming traffic lights and force them to stay green longer or turn green sooner. The result: Their city has achieved a form of rapid of transit for a fraction of the price of building subway, train and dedicated bus lines.

If municipalities spent half as much time sharing best practices as they do begging for more funding and taxing powers, there wouldn't be any need for more tax dollars in the first place.