New-York tribune., 1908-02-19
CITY EIPENDITU RES.
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Assemblyman BENEFITS resolution calling
upon Controller Metz to furnish the Legislature
with information concerning New York CITY
funded debt and contract liabilities with a state
ment showing the extent TO which corporate
stock is used for temporary purposes in the
nature of running expenses. and an estimate OF
the scrip which the city will have TO issue III
the next ten years 10 carry gut the improve
ments now contemplated should certainly be
passed az a preliminary to any legislation look
ing to an alteration of the debt limit. The pup
lie is entitled TO IN intelligent accounting Let
il know how much corporate stock Is outstaho-
ing and when it falls due, how much the city
owes now but is unable TO pay because the re-
cent S50oO0.Ooo issue was not large enough |"
settle all existing claims and how large eA-
penditures will be necessary TO complete lhe
various proiects to which the city is already
committed
The city expenditures are conducted IKE Il
blind pool Instead of making public at ire
ouent intervals the condition of receipts ana
expenditures showing distinctly those bills that
are paid out of revenue and those that are PAID
sy the sale of corporate stock no comprehensive
annual statement has been issued for a period
later than 19O5-published last Aprii-and that
was so complicated that only an accountant
after q laborious examination could obtain
much light from it. II is also necessary TO Know
what outlay is involved in the undertakings al
ready authorized; how much yearly borrowing
they will entail and for how long. Before any
law is passed permitting an increase in the city
debt grave consideration should be given TO the
question whether the present administration
can properly be ntrusted with the power to ex-
pend vastly increased sums. In fact it is to
be doubted whether the authority 10 spend
S200000000 or so more should be given TO any
city administration until it has worked out
definite and intelligent plan of city development
and gives promise of applying the money to the
wisest ends. The present haphazard method is
runous.
Controller Metz. speaking of this general sub
ject before the City Club on Monday night. tes-
tilted to the waste. we have been wasting
money" he said, simply throwing it away"
Not doubt of il What private corporation
could make the requisite outlay for its future
development and the enlargement of its plant
without Intelligent consideration and def
mite object in view? What railroad company
could sell its bonds and build additions TO It's
lines without well matured plan and care
fu calculation of probable results? Could it
do so by haphazard. trusting To be guided solely
by delegations from towns and hamlets press
ing for the extension of line TO their local
tiles? That would mean bankruptcy. Yet that
is the way the city is embarking on an outlay
y
its plant. and that is one reason why there is
waste. Mr.. Metz gives instance Of needless
extravaganza. 1t is possible for u.s. he says,
to make the Borough of Queens manufactur-
ing place, and instead Of doing so we have been
driving business out of town for ten years and
laying out parks and building sites" Money
is wasted by the city through the unbusnesslike
process of borrowing 10 pay current expenses
and paying per cent interest ON the bonds. If
the faxes were paid AT the beginning of the
year instead of al the end this waste would be
cut off.
To what extent is the cost of government, like
icy Of crowding the people of the city on Man
haitian Island and a small area contiguous to
it: This congestion. first of all, makes real
estate values high. The city is constantly buy
ing real estate in congested quarters when with
an adequate traction system the surplus popula-
tion would be carried to the outskirts of the
city. where land is cheap and school sites for
instance. are inexpensive The congestion
makes rents high. and In other respects raises
the cost Of living, and the vast army of mn
ncipal employees use this fact 10 obtain ever
increasing wages from the city. With the Dop-
ulation properly distributed by real rapid tran
sit AT a single fare. rents and living expenses
would have been kept more moderate and mu-
nicipal salaries might have been restricted
within reason. Yet this potent factor in the
city's development has been practically ignored
by the administration in all its enormous ex-
pendltures, with little consideration has If
made them.