REAL  ESTATE







AKD







NEW  YORK.   NOVEMBER   18, 1916





RESULTS     OF     CITY     BUDGET     ANALYZED





Comparative Study of City's Appropriation, Chargeable Against
Current   Revenues   for    1917,    Compared   With   Other   Years





By  DR.  FREDERICK   A.  CLEVELAND,   Director,  Bureau Municipal  Research*





PART TWO

ON another occasion the fact 'was
pointed to that 1908 marked the be¬
ginning of an effort on the part of officers
to introduce more efficient methods in the
conduct of the city's business. Concrete¬
ly this effort has expressed itself in the
following ways: in a more intelligent in¬
terest on the part of citizens; in more
eft'ective citizen support of officers who
have tried to serve the public w'ell; in the
better organized opposition to tbose who
have sought to use offices and resources
for private and partisan ends; in an ac¬
tive propa,ganda for a budget which may
be understood and through which expen¬
ditures may be controlled; in better meth¬
ods of accounting and reporting; in more
effective methods of auditing; in better
protection of the city's trading credit
through fair treatment of tradesmen and
more prompt payment of bills; in cen¬
tral review and control of the city's
contracting and purchasing relations in
order to eliminate opportunities and in¬
ducements to "graft"; in the breaking-
down of bureaucracy with its obstructive
methods of "red tape"; in better tests
supplied for the determination of indi¬
vidual and group efficiency; in better op¬
portunities to those in the service to
make it an honorable career; in these and
many other ways which signify a change
in attitude on the part of persons both
outside and inside the government.

What public  officers  have  done  when
supported by better informed citizenship
is evidenced not alone  in  increased and
better service—a thing that cannot be so
accurately   recorded—but   in   ratios   and
percentages    that    may    be    understood.
Continuing a  comparison  instituted  two
years ago and bringing it up tc date we
have before us these results.
Increases   for   Departmental   Purposes.
From   1903 to   1908 the appropriations
for city  "departments"  increased 38 per
cent.    From 1908 to 1913 they increased
only 28 per cent.   A third five-year period
has not j'et been completed, but reducing
the increases  to ratios they  furnish the
comparison  shown by Table XII.
TADLE    XII.—RATES    PER    CENT.    OF    IN¬
CREASE     I.NT    BUDGET    APPROPRIATIONS
FOR   DEPARTMB.^TAL   EXPENSES  OF   AD¬
MINISTRATION,    OPERATIO.N'    A.ND    MAIN-
TE7NA.VCE.

(Note  decreasing   rate   in   text.)

mo.l-inOS,   average   annual   increase....... fi.6t

inns-lil1.3,         "             "             "        ..

]0<iii-]ni4,       "             "             "      ..

IMlll-lMo,         "             "             ■'        ..

uiii-iniB,         ■■             "             "       ..

ini2-ini7,        "           "           ■•      ..

iriiM-iftiT,         "              ■■              "        ..
ifin-ini7,

1'.il.-.-l!)lT,           "                •■                ■'        ..

1010-1917,           "                "                "        ..

Appropriations to Elected Officers.

The percentages and averages for the
total of all appropriations have not been
taken for this comparison because they
may be quite misleading, in that they in¬
clude appropriations for State and
County purposes as well as appropria¬
tions for a rapidly increasing debt ser¬
vice. Even the averages and percentages
of increase of the total for departments

[*The article publislied last week was chiefly
a statement of fact—an analysis of increases In
budget appropriations for tho last fourteen
years. This article is in the nature of an in¬
terpretation of the significance of these in¬
creases to taxpayers and citizens Interested in
improvement  of   the  public  service.—Editor.]





5.10
4.74
.1,44

.i.on

2.11!
1.(51
0.77
1.2:i
3.71







DR.    FREDERICK    A.    CLETVELAND.

must be analyzed before drawing con¬
clusions with respect to executive respon¬
sibility because they also include appro¬
priations for activities not under the di¬
rect control of elected officers—such as
the Board of Education, the City College,
etc., the amounts of which appear as
Groups II. and III. in Table VIII. (see
issue of November 11). Eliininating
these two groups, the percentages of in¬
creases for which elected officers are re¬
sponsible are shown in Tabic XIII. From
this it appears that: whereas the aver¬
age ratio of increase in total appropria¬
tions for which elected executives were
directly responsible for the five-year pe¬
riod. 1903-1908. was 6.64 per cent., this
ratio of increase was reduced until for
the average of the period 1914-1917 it
came to be a minus figure.

TABLE   XIII.—RATES    PER    CENT.    OF    IN¬
CREASE     IN     APPROPRIATIONS    TO     DE¬
PARTMENTS,   FOR   WHICH   ELECTED   EX¬
ECUTIVES   ARE   RESPONSIBLE.
[Eliminating   Groups   II.   and   III.   of   Mayor's
Departments.]

Borough
Mayor's
Depart¬
ments,
Group I.§
+ 6.1.5
+ .5.3.1
+ 4.20
+ 1.7.S
+ 1.24
+ CO.'S
l.2.'i* —0.2.1*
1.01* —0.01*





Total.
+ fi.70
+ 4.71

+ .l.s.-)





Period.
100.1-100S..
lOOK-101.1..
IINlO-lOll..

1010-101.-1___      +1.04

1011-1010___     +1.22

1012-1017___     +0.04

101.1-1017....
1014-1017....
101.5-1017....
1010-1017___





/





—0.22* —0.1-1*
+1.87     + 1.50







Comp¬




Presi-





troller'




s   dents'





Depart




- Depart





ment.




ments.





+ CO.-.




+10.16





+ 4.01




+ 1.25





+ 0.S2




+ 1.02





+ 0.77




+ 1.07





+ 0.60




+ 1.3S





—2.4.-)*




+ 0.82





—.->.4S*




+ 0.80





—.1..16*




—1.12*





—5.30*




+ 0.15





—0.27*




+ 4.71





§Group I. Comprises departments whose execu¬
tive heads are appointed by the Mayor and are
removable at his pleasure.

*Figures marked with a star represent de¬
creases.

Appropriations   to    Continuing   Boards.

Attention has already been called to
the continuing increases in appropria¬
tions to departments governed by boards
appointed by the Mayor, but v.'hose mem¬
bers cannot be removed except on prefer¬
ment of charges. The ratios of these in¬
creases are separately shown in Table
XIV.    By reference to these it will  be





15.57
9.82
6.38
8.61
7.59
7.40
3..52
2.27
0.97
2.2S





C. C.

N. Y.

11.05
6.35
3.25
2.44
1.65
3.35
3.32
3.48
4.68
S.82





mn? o _, ^ '^ average percentages of
iy03-8 and of the other periods shown
are on a higher level than are the per¬
centages of increases for the depart¬
ments directly responsible to elected
executives. This is not to be taken as a
reliection on these managements, as is
pointed out later; it is the purpose only
to introduce the figures at this point.

TABLE XIV.—RATE'S PER CENT. OF AVER¬
AGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN APPROPRIA¬
TIONS FOR DEPARTMENTS UNDER CON¬
TINUING BOARDS OF CONTROL.

Bellevue and            Normal

Allied      Dept.   College

Hos-   of Bdu- (Hunt-

.,..^, .  „,      Total,   pitals.    cation,   er's)

1003-1008.. .   0.08       9.55        5 94

100S-1013...   r^M        8.02        5 81

1000-1014...  0.83       4.85       6.95*

1010-101.-,...   0.88        !5.04        7 00*

1011-1010...  0..5S        5.24        6 71*

1012-1917...  4.79        .1.88        4.16

1013-1017...   4.00        3.40        4.19

1914-1917...  3.79        3.65        2.75

1915-1917...   3.58       3.37        199

1910-1017...  0.88       0.47        3.02

*These increased percentages are due to added
appropriations on account ol equal pay bill.

Interpretation of Facts as Told in Ratios.

In interpreting the significance of the
ratios of increased appropriations shown
above, these further facts are to be kept
in ir.md, namely: that the average annual
increase in population in the city during
all of this time has been approximately
3y2 per cent.; that the city through activ¬
ities already established served an ever-
increasing number of people without any
falling off in tlie quality of service ren¬
dered—in fact it is the concensus of opin¬
ion that the quality has been perceptibly
nr.proved; that in addition to maintain¬
ing each year the services already estab¬
lished, new functions and activities have
been appropriated for, a conservative es¬
timate of which is not less than 2^^ per
cent, each year—in other words that the
number of functions exercised by the
government and the cost due to these
added undertakings have more than
doubled in number in the course of forty
years.

For the purpose of interpreting ratios,
therefore, we may assume tliat the quality
of the service is as good now as it was
fifteen years ago—that it has neither be¬
come better nor worse during the last
ten years than it was on the average
from 1903-1908. Accepting these con¬
clusions that the average yearly increase
in community demands is not less than
6 per cent, and that the quality of the
services has been maintained, then the
annual increase in appropriations for all
city departments from 1903 to 1908 (6.64
per cent.) was just about what should
have been expected with no changes in
methods. In other words, business
methods continuing what they were at
the beginning, the appropriating body
from 1903 to 1908 simply yielded to re¬
quests for increased service. The year
1908, however, marked the beginning of
important changes in methods; and since
1908 the annual average percentage of in¬
crease has been growing less, as is shown
above (Table XII.)—the increases in
appropriations have been constantly be¬
low the increases in demand for service
by the community. The extent of this
difference between the annual increases
of appropriations and the assumed re¬
quirements for increase in service is
shown in Table XV.