New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-30
THE CORPORATE STOCK BUDGET


Without any attempt to pass Judgment
on lis several items. it may be said that
the first corporate stock budget, re-
ported 10 the Board Of Estimate and Ap-
portionment on Friday, is great step
forward in the businesslike and intelii-
gent making Of appropriations for public
improvements. The committee reports
that public improvements to cost $751;
0o0Oe0 have been authorized or should
be authorized before July j, 1911. The
city's entering into contracts for that a g
gregate of public improvements in the
coming fiscal year would exhaust all IFS
borrowing capacity except SS.5Oo,pOo.
When the enormous amount of money
and the great variety Of projects involved
are taken into consideration, the utter
unwisdom of the old practice of author
iZing each undertaking separately and
without relation to the improvements
needed as q whole and to the sum avail
able for them is perfectly obvious. II is
no wonder that the former haphazard
method resulted in the city's having no
money available for what it most needed
-subways-or that the total of the sep
arate authorizations. at least upon one
occasion. considerably exceeded the city's
estimated borrowing capacity.
Nevertheless. the preparation of such
budget as that which has just been
reported involving. as 1t does, in order
Ia be satisfactory, a comprehensive study
Of the city's needs, a comparison of the
relative necessity of an endless variety
of projects and an inquiry into the indi-
vidual merits of each of them, is an
enormous task. which calls attention to
one weakness of the Board of Estimate
inherent in ifs organization. This bud
get is the work of three members of the
board two of them at least the busy eN
ecUtive heads of important branches of
the city government For the most in
telligent planning Of public Improvements
the board plainly requires members who
can give their whole time to their duties
as members of the city's most important
body But even with the board consti-
tuted as il is, it is q great improvement
in the way of doing business to take q
comprehensive view of the citys needs
at the beginning of fiscal year and lay
out a programme for that year.
A difficulty with such a programme
suggests itself when the narrow margin
Of the citys borrowing capacity left IN
disposed of by il is taken into considera-
ton The committee of the board esti-
mates the citys borrowing capacity for
the fiscal year ending July /, 1911, at
$4,000. 600. and it reports i'm favor of
public undertakings. already authorized
but not under contract. or to he author
lied before July /. 1911. whose total cost
will be SS5.0o0.0e0. leaving only $500,
GOO for emergencies The intention in
forming a budget is ia lay out a pro-
gramme from which departure will he
made only in an emergency" but in
this experimental stage of the new plan
it is a strain upon tie faith in human
foresight to ask the public to believe that
a programme can be prepared with such
nicely as this one seems 10 be and that
so small leeway rs SS:0O0OO will be
adequate to meet genuine emergencies
and other e1igences which arise from
the pressure of public sentiment For
example. there is not and there could not
he, in the nature of things, any provision
in this budget for acquiring site for a
new courthouse. A proper site for it
viii be expensive, and it is not incon-
ceivable that before July l, 1911, public
sentiment may develop in favor of the
purchase Of the land north of Chambers
street. Would the rightly of the budget
and the small margin for emergencies
make this impossible? 4 comprehensive
programme is imperatively needed, but
it would be possible to carry too far the
reaction from the old haphaZard, inspira-
tional way of undertaking public i'm
movements