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Vol. LXXXVIII
OCTOBER 28, 1911
No. 2276
A MODERNIZED BOROUGH ADMINISTRATION
President McAneny Has Brought About a Complete Departmental Reorganization
With Control Through "Functional" Accounting.—More Work at Less Cost.
THE Record and Guide gave last week
a brief survey of the fiscal history of
the city since consolidation. It pointed
out that the tremendous rise in the bud¬
get of the greater city has been due very
largely to unavoidable causes—causes
which affect all growing cities and which
must remain in operation for an indefi¬
nite number of years to come. Heretofore
the rise in the budget has been met by a
corresponding advance in taxes, but the
existing sources of taxation are incapable
further of yielding the augmented rev¬
enues demanded by the exigencie.'^ of an
expanding budget. There are now only
two ways open to the community for
averting confiscatory taxation on the one
hand, and for avoiding the danger of crip¬
pling the growth of the city on the other,
through failure to provide wider streets,
larger water mains, better pavements and
a variety of other costly physical im¬
provements needed in the interest of com¬
merce and industry.
One way is to develop the possibilities
of sources of income, aside from the gen¬
eral property tax; the other is to see that
service by describing in' detail the ad¬
ministration of some of the important city
offices that affect more or less directly
the interests of real estate. For the pur¬
pose in hand, namely, that of helping to
secure economy in the administration of
city affairs, it is less important to call
attention in these columns to incapable
officials than to insure recognition of
merit where this is due. Owing to the
watchfulness of many ofRcial and non-of¬
ficial agencies, incompetence in office is
pretty certain to be discovered and ex¬
posed. However, these agencies do not,
for a variety of reasons disclose with
equal certainty the material for a due ap¬
praisal of elTiciency.
In earlier articles the Record and Guide
has given an account of the notable ad¬
ministrative improvements introduced in
the Tax Department and in the office of
the Borough President of the Bronx. Of
the remaining Borough Presidents, two
have rendered distinguished service as ad¬
ministrators. To the achievements of one
of these the present article is devoted. Mr.
McAneny has admittedly given much of
obtain, and, through his influence with
the Board of Estimate, obtained the facts
necessary for the studies he sought to
undertake. He has outlined a construct¬
ive program which he has no hesitation
in recommending to" the city for adoption,"
This program rela-tes to the reconstruc¬
tion of street and subsurface improve¬
ments, and calls for special appropriations
distributed over a number of years. Dur¬
ing the time it has been under consider¬
ation improvements which could be un¬
dertaken with the budget allowances cus¬
tomary to his office have been put into
effect. Some of these will be described
here, leaving the proposed constructive
program for a later paragraph in this
article.
Stoppage of AVnstc.
Mr. McAneny recognized that waste
within city departments was of two dis¬
tinct kinds, one resulting from failure to
collect that which was properly due the
city and the other resulting from ineffi¬
cient administration. In order to save
to the city all amounts due it, the Divi-
;?05-ii (Bl aso
The City of New york
Under Orders 5-.L<2 ...pays
OPFlCeS OR TME COMMISSIOINER OR
BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN
PUBLIC
WORKS
DIVISION OF STONE BLOCK REPAIRS
Summ
so VDS.
ary ot all Work Performed During Weak Ending.. ..?
MATERIAL
CTOBER 7TH-
. .\5\1-
OVERHEAD
BUREAU OF HIGHWAYS
EXPENSE TOTAL
LA ao R
Slant BiDchi All Olhors
Tola! Amount
CoitpOfSq.Yd
ArTiDL,n(
Coatp
,-So Vd
Amaunt Co«1perSq.Yd. Ainaurlt CofltporSq-Vd,
GENERAL REPAIRS
On Conorelo Foundation
5f;50.7
108.08 1581,84
1689.92
.29
3545.43
.60
531.69
.09
5767-04
-9S
On Sand Foundation
2373-2
28.80 67-91
96.71
.03
1351.80
.57
203.73
â– 09
1652.24
.69
CORPORATION OPENINGS
On Concrete FoundaMon
25s. 9
2.58 201.07
203-65
.60
211.23
.62
31.46
.09
446.34
1.31
On Sand Foundation
K9-6
4.24 3.0s
7.32
.08
53.22
â– 59
7.91
.09
68.45
.76
EMERGENCY OHOERS
1055.6
49.24 217.68
266.92
.25
732-75
.69
99.81
.10
1099."18
1-04
TOTALS,
9609.0
192.94 2071-5S
2264.52
.24
5894.43
-61
874.60
.09
9033-55
.94
FIG. 1. FUNCTIONAL
ACCOUN'TING—â– WEEKLY SUMMARY POR
STONE BLOCK REPAIRS BY
THE BUREAU
OF HIGHWAYS.
every appropriation for administrative
purposes shall be as economically ex¬
pended as it would be in a well organized
- private enterprise. The possibilities of
new income are being studied by a com¬
mittee appointed by the Mayor. The re¬
port of the committee, it is safe to say,
will not be of a kind to diminish mate¬
rially the existing burden of taxation. On
the contrary, it is certain to emphasize
the need of economy—economy, that is,
not in the sense of a smaller budget, but
in the sense of getting more effective work
done for the appropriations contained in
the budget. The rate of increase in the
expenditures may be modified, even if the
increase cannot be arrested.
ISeoMoiny a Matter of Person.^.
, The sort of economy that is here in¬
sisted upon is a matter of persons, not of
political affiliations. It depends upon the
administrative efficiency of the individual
officeholders. The time has gone by when
a taxpayer can afford to judge city
officials by a lower standard than that
applied to the directors of private corpor¬
ations in which he owned stock. The tax¬
payer should make it his business to be
informed concerning the work of the vari¬
ous officials who act as his agents in
the management of his taxable property,
.-' and he must keep his mind free to judge
/ that work without bias.
Holding the views outlined in the fore¬
going paragraphs, the Record and Guide
is convinced that as a non-political news¬
paper it is in a position to render useful
his time to rapid transit matters. Per¬
haps for that very reason adverse criti¬
cisms of his work in other directions have
been widely accepted at their face value.
Yet Mr. McAneny has given to his bor¬
ough a conspicuously economical and effi¬
cient administration.
"Upon taking office," according to an
associate of the Eorough President, "Mr.
McAneny saw that the work he was
called upon to perform was of two dis¬
tinct classes, that of administering the
Department of Public Works, including
the bureau of huildings, and that of
initiating and carrying out certain plans
that would restore to the citizen rights of
which he had been deprived. These plans
contemplated, for example, giving to the
pedestrian free use of the sidewalk and
relieving the congested, traffic condition
of streets. The work as outlined in his
mind required thorough study before ac¬
tion could be taken, in that it not only in¬
volved a readjustment of alleged prop¬
erty rights but would commit the city to
an expenditure of many millions of dol¬
lars. I-Ie further recognized that the de¬
liberate study which his plans would in¬
volve would subject him to a criticism to
which he would not have been subjected
had he permitted himself to make a show¬
ing by proceeding with work at once whicii
later developments would prove ill-ad¬
vised.
"In order to obtain the facts necessary
for his ultimate program, he secured the
services of the best engineers he could
sion of Audit and Accounts was called
upon to ascertain the flnancial status of
the borough administration in its relation
to the public and to other city depart¬
ments. Tlie result of this work is plainly
seen from the trial balances and reports
rendered by the department. At present
a monthly statement is made of all re¬
ceipts and disbursements, which state¬
ment is under as accurate control as
are similar statements rendered by finan¬
cial corporations. The city has profited
financially by this in that bills in large
amounts due from railroad companies for
paving and other wori; have been assem¬
bled and forwarded to the Corporation
Counsel for collection, with the result that
over $100,000 has been collected. iMuch
larger sums are in litigation or awaiting
final settlement.
The records of the department also
showed that a considerable sum of money
was in the hands of the city that right¬
fully belonged to those who had made de¬
posits for permits to open or damage the
pavement. A full list of all these refunds
was made out and the parties to which
refunds were due were notified with the
result that perhaps IJoO.OOO has been
turned back to people, many of whom
were ignorant that they were entitled
to any money.
In order to stop administrative waste,
the Division of Audit and Accounts was
directed to install cost accounts which
would show accurately what it was cost¬
ing the borough administration to per-