The evening times., 1899-09-07
WORKING ON THE BUDGET
Commissioners Preparing an Esti-
mate Of the Districts Needs.
Great Quantities of Reports From
the Various officials to Be Exam
Schedule of Expenses Must He Sub
mitted by the First Day of October.

Work on the annual budget of the Dis
trict government was begun by the District
Commissioners this afternoon. For two
weeks the busy day sign will be hung
on the doors Of the three municipal au-
thorities and the afternoon of each day
during that period they will devote their
sole attention to the labor of estimating
the amount of money that will be necessary
for the support and maintenance of the
various District Offices during the fiscal
year, which will end June 80, 1901
The budget Will have to be in the hands
of the Secretary OF the Treasury by the lst
of October, and when Secretary Gage has
the result of the combined efforts of the
Commissioners in hand it will become his
duty to approve or dsapprove of their
work and forward the schedule of expenses
to Congress for action. The work of the
Commissioners Will be based upon the an
nual reports and estimates of the various
municipal officers, from the head chiefs
down TO the superin tendents of smaller de-
partments The task is a tedious one. 1t
Will require the undivided and concentrat-
ed attention of the three Commissioners
every afternoon during the balance of the
month. The Importance of having no in
terruptions during the time they are thus
engaged is not always realized by the pub
lie, and request will be made officially
that all persons having business with the
/ Commissioners call TO see them in the fore
noon. II has been the custom to promul-
gate an order every year informing the
public of this desire but such action has
not yet been taken. One will probably be
issued this afternoon or tomorrow, reading
as follows:
AS the Commissioners are engaged in
the preparation for their annual estimates.
which they are required by law to submit
To the Secretary of the Treasury, on or
before October l, they will be compelled
10 discontinue public hearings and TO deny
themselves 10 visitors after l O'Clock until
further notice
Commissioners Ross and Beach were
present when the matter of preparing the
budget was taken up this afternoon Be-
fore them on the large table in the board
room lay the reports of various officials
which had been submitted. All have not
yet reached the Commissioners and some
CT the reports yet out are the most i'm
portant as we'll as the most voluminous
of the entire list
Among the latter are the reports of Jo-
seph Paris, Chief Of the Fire Department.
Major Richard Sylvester, Chief of Police.
DR.. William c. Wood, District Health Of
ficer, Herbert W. Lewis. Superintendent of
Charities, and the Public School reports.
They are in course of preparation and it
is anticipated that all will be in the hands
of the Commissioners with the next three
weeks, by which time Commissioner Wight
Will have returned from his vacation and
the budget completed. The first thing to
be taken up will be the estimate of general
expenses. This includes the salaries of
the Commissioners, their secretaries, as
sistants, and messengers, and the salaries
of the different officers of the present Dis
trlet government with their assistants.
Following the preparation of estimates
for general expenses, the Commissioners
Will consider the estimates for the support
of the various branches of government of
the District in the following order: The
assessors office. the Tax Collectors office.
the Auditors office, the Attorneys office,
the sinking fund Office, which is under the
control of the Treasurer of the United
States, the Coroners office, the Market.
Masters office, the Office of the Sealer of
Weights and Measures, the engineers Of
nee, the special assessment office the
street sweeping Office. the board of exam
liners, steam engineers, the Superintendent
of Charities, the Surveyors office. the Free
Public Library. the contingent expenses of
the District, including rent, general adver-
eini'6' iSpeiio anu repairs to
market houses, and other items: the ey
penses of surveys, assessments and permit
work, Improvement, repair and grading of
streets, the sewer department. street de-
partment, construction of county roads. es
tablishment Of grades, sprinkling. sweep-
ing and cleaning of streets, the parking
commission, the harbor and river front the
free bathing beach, and the support of tho
public schools.
Among the larger items of expense IN
be included in the budget will be the es-
Inmates for the maintenance of the public
school system of the District, the MetropoIi-
tan Police Department, the District Fire
Department, the telegraph and telephone
service, the Health Department. the Police
Courts, the Water Department. District
militia, and charitable institutions. The es-
Inmates for the present fiscal year were not
begun last year until September 20 and the
consequence was they were not ready to be
transmitted to Secretary Gage until October
IA. The total amount of the estimated bud
get last year was s85S6, ,O92.77, exclusive of
$129,141, which was asked for the Water
Department. The budget will be slightly
larger this year.
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