Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view
About OCR text.
REAL ESTATE
AKD
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 7, 1916
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE BUDGET PLAN
AND WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT
D EFORE taking up what is customar-
•'-' ily called "the budget," it might be
well to say a word about budgets in gen¬
eral. Any statement, document, or set
of documents which deserves the name
"budget" must have for its purpose the
controlling of the action of the govern¬
ment. A budget is essentially an in¬
strument of control. To be effective it
must be an instrument of popular con¬
trol; it must be a means whereby the
government may be made responsive to
public opinion—responsible to a voting
majority. As citizens you may ask your¬
selves whether what we have been call¬
ing the city's "budget" serves this end.
Historically, budgets have been the
cliief means of making the executive give
an account of himself. The method
adopted for enforcing accountaliility has
been to insist on the constitutional prin¬
ciple tliat "no money shall be raised for
the support of the government except by
consent of the governed"—this consent
to be expressed either directly through
the voters or indirectly through duly
elected and accredited representatives.
In the practical working out of this prin¬
ciple the people have demanded that the
executive prepare and submit, along
with his account of past doings, a definite
plan for a future period to be financed
before the funds or supplies will be
forthcoming.
Charter Requirements.
The charter of New York requires the
Board of Estimate (the only executive
which the city has—an executive commit¬
tee elected by the people) to prepare and
submit to the Board of Aldermen (the
money raising and appropriating body)
each year a "budget"; it requires the
Board of Estimate to prepare and sub¬
mit for enactment or rejection a draft
of an appropriation bill or ordinance, the
"terms and conditions" of which cannot
be changed and the items of which when
submitted, though they may be reduced,
cannot be increased. This puts upon
the Board of Estimate, as the city's exec¬
utive committee, the power, if not the
duty, of preparing each year a definite
plan which may be m.ade the basis for
considering whether money will be
granted for a future period, and of sub¬
mitting this plan as an explanation, when
the request fch" funds is made. Have
they done it? They submit a draft of
an appropriation bill or ordinance to be
passed by the Board of Aldermen; but
have they prepared and submitted a bud¬
get? Comptroller Prendergast has gone
on record as saying that they have not.
Comptroller Prendergast has stated pub¬
licly that though there have been many
changes in procedure through the last
ten years, strictly speaking New York
still has no budget. It is now about
time that the citizens as well as officers
squarely face this fact.
If this criticism of what we have been
calling a budget may seem to be a dis¬
tinction without a real difference let us
apply a few tests to the bill or proposed
ordinance which is prepared each year
and sent to the Board of Aldermen. First
the test of intelligibility: since the pur¬
pose of a budget is to provide the means
for the exercise of popular control, it
goes without saying that its form should
be such that it can be easily understood.
It should tell a story; it should tell this
story in such a simple way that anyone
can know what it is all about. Does
By DR. FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND. Director, Bureau Municipal Research
DR. FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND.
our so-called budget tell a story that is
easily understood?
Are we not entitled to know:
What executive officers and those un¬
der them are doing for the community
and what they think should be done?
What is the man force used and what
executive officers think to be the ir.ain
force needed for carrying on the work
proposed?
What is the present and estimated cost
of_ hiring men and buying the material
things required to make their work ef¬
fective?
How this cost has been met in the past
and how executive officers propose to
meet it in the future?
What is the present and estimated
financial condition of the municipality?
The Present Practice.
We look over the so-called budget of
1916 or of any year immediately preced-
in.g; we look it over, ask yourselves and
answer these questions:
Q. Does this document tell what
services are being rendered to the
public and what executive officers (the
Board of Estimate) think should be
done?
A. No.
Q. Does it give a list of positions
and salaries of officers and civil ser¬
vants used and needed to do work?
A. Yes, in a way—but in a very awk¬
ward and uninforming way.
Q. Does it give a report on con¬
tracts entered into and purchases made,
with a view of determining the quan¬
tities, qualities and prices of things
bought or to be bought?
A. No—there is a "segregation" of
items for things of this kind Init the in¬
formation is not brought together in
such form that anyone could tell
whether the prices paid were reason¬
able and just, and the city trading has
been done economically.
Q. Does it give the cost of render¬
ing each kind of public service?
A. No.
Q. Does it publish a statement show¬
ing present or estimated future finan¬
cial conditions?
A. No.
A. Does it set forth the present and
proposed "ways and means" of raising
funds needed?
A. No.
Q. Does anyone prepare and submit
explanation or address to the Board of
Aldermen pointing out the facts to
which
special attention is to be given?
A. No; simply the proposed appro¬
priation bill or ordinance is prepared
and put in the hands of the Board of
Aldermen. From the beginning to tlfe
end the Board of Estimate proceeded as
if they were the ones to determine
what appropriations should be made.
They hold public hearings and in var¬
ious ways attempt to sift the estimates,
but throughout there seems to be the
implied assumption that what the exec¬
utive officers determine they should
have is a matter not to be seriously
inquired into by the Board of Alder¬
men.
Q. Are budget summaries prepared
with such supporting and supplement¬
ary information as is needed to give
the people a basis for judging whether
the business of the city has been car¬
ried on economically and efficiently?
A. No. There is a chance given for
public hearings, but these always have
been and always will be a farce.
Proposals for Change in Procedure.
From this it is not to assumed that
the Board of Estimate are satisfied with
the present practicce. At meetings both
of the Budget Committee and of the
Board, members have frankly admitted
and recognized these defects. At meet¬
ings both of the Budget Committee and
of the Board, they have invited discus¬
sion of constructive proposals in order
that they rnight have brought before
them definite recommendations for
change, and the Board has referred the
matter to the Budget Committee; the
Bud,get Committee in turn has referred
it to a sub-committee to report on prac¬
tical steps to be taken this year.
The proposition which is now before
the Board of Estimate is this: that they
should prepare and put into the hands
of the Board of Aldermen a budget, or
account of past actions and a plan for
the future, in support of the requests for
appropriation in support of the bill,
which would be sent in at the same time;
and that this budget would have the fol¬
lowing features:
1—A "work" program," present and
proposed—which will tell what is being
done and what officers think should be
undertaken.
2—A "list of positions and salaries"
of officers and civil servants—the per¬
sonnel used and to be used.
3—A "report on contracts and pur¬
chases"—with details showing quanti¬
ties, qualities and prices paid.
4—A statement showing "cost" in
terms of public services rendered or re¬
sults achieved.
S—A report on "ways and m.eans" of
raising funds—whether by raising rev¬
enue or floating new loans.
6—A "balance sheet" or statement
of financial condition with surplus or
deficit to be brought into the reckon¬
ing of funds needed.
7—.\ "budget address to the Board
of Aldermen" which would be prepared
by the mayor as chairman of the Board