The sun., 1916-12-17
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Comptroller Reports on Handling Of
Biggest Business in the United States

from street u,orker "a bo,k ,r,.,1ont
in n CITY larger than Rochester ia Ia
maid from "a single Office Tb,, renre.
SCENTS the work of tho divisions I'm ,his
denartmep. naviry c,,y or,nI.yo,s
The DEPARTMENT of Finance has re-
Gently taken ovcr Tho iri,i,, ,,vro,,
work in a rr,.a, ma inri,v ,f rho civ
departments pren,riuy ,bc n,vr,l. II,
the central navrol, divisiop aud ,,,L.
ing out the checks for tho uavpent
NJ emnIovees wbep tho ,,yr,,i. ,ro
returned certiae,, hy tho rasnac,ivo
de autbor;,ies Tb;. a.
vision. with that NJ tho CIV p.y.
master. which 10 also I'm ,bis don,r,-
ment. issues one million ana two.
thirds checks n year ami n.s..s Tho
payrolls of the entire ,,,y
THESE chaeLs az. .o,r,. ~
| by hand from the m,men, ,bev emo
from the printer uutil. they reach tho
employees for whom they nre Intended.
They are written ON "A machine thar
runs automatically. printing tho II, mo.
and proper payroll amount at tho rate
Of 1000 checks an hour. They arc
, added, numbered and dated hy ma
chine. and when they reach the office
OF the City Paymaster they are signed
by machine. In the month uf y vem-
Der l5l 900 checks were passed through
the central payroll division. including
10000 for election officials.
The establishment OF the centrul
payroll division represents q net saving
20 the city Of at least $50. 600 u wear.
The consolidation f payroll worl; I'm
this department brought many en-
rloyees from payroll groups IN other
departments to the central payroll d.
vision. but the incidental. increase in
the personnel of the Department Of
Finance has been offset by improving
processes In the office. of the city Pay
master. a coordinate division. B. fol-
lowing our policy of not filing yacan-
cies 1t was found unnecessary to drop
more than a very few civil service en-
ployees.
The money saved In the budget ot
the Department of Finance is not tho
only index To the activity Of the Depart
ment within the last year. the l;Irclu
OF Municipal Investigation and Statis-
tics has been at work with tho site
Tax Commission To- effect :, Substantial
saving In the amount of direct state
taxes payable 10y the city Of New York.
Studies made by this bureau indi-
cate that the basis of assessments OH
real estate in upstate counties was
very much less than the hundred Del.
cent. basis Of assessment, Used in tho
city. Inasmuch rs direct state taxes
are apportioncd according To asses ell
valuations of real estate. il arpcarcl
therefore tina the city was pIyins an
undue proportion Of direct state taScs.
The result of the efforts of this
bureau was that the state Board of
Equalization adopted "A table more
nearly In accord with the citv's inter.
ests. On last years equalization ;ible
I the city OF New York was allowed a
deduction of over $532. 900 GOO from the
assessed valuations ascrihcd To II. This
year the deduction was increased to
more than $656. 900, 900. Had this de-
duction been effected in 1915 the result
would have been a saving of nearly
5000, 900 In the direct state taN paid in
1916 by the city. This department will
continue its efforts to secure 4: fur
Their reduction in the equalization tablo
OF 1917.
This bureau has established cost &C.
counting systems in ninc of the lara