New-York tribune., 1919-12-12


To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Since you did me the honor of
commenting editorially on an address
which recently delivered at the City
Club during conference on the New
York City budget, shall be grateful
II you will permit me to set forth
briefly the propositions which l then
advanced.
In the installation Of thorough
going budget system three aspects of
the subject must be considered:
/. The responsibility for the prepara-
tion Of the estimates.
2. Form and content Of the budget
3. Procedure in preparation and
adoption of the budget.
E-Responsibility for the Preparation of
the Estimates
Under the existing law this respon-
sibility is placed on the Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment, a body COM
posed of eight men. I advocated at the
City Club placing responsibility square
ly upon the Mayor, urging at the same
time the Importance of administrative
reorganization. This is in line with
the best practice in state and city
budget legislation. l am fully aware
that in the existing charter the Mayor
is not the head of all of the adminis-
trative branches Of the city 1t should
be understood that as long as the ex-
listing administrative system continues
the Mayor could not be held respon-
sible for doing anything more than "as-
sembling' the estimates for the divi-
sions of government that are not ac-
countable to him. He has no authority
to revise them.
H-The Content Of tho Budget
Strictly speaking, New York City has
no budget, but mere act Of appropri-
alton, itemized in such detail as to con-
stitute great volume. Its form and
complexity are battling to the average
citizen, and it requires an immense
amount of accounting and statistical
work to discover the significance Of
changes from year to year. An ideal
budget should be composed of at least
two parts:
l. The expenditure and revenue pro-
gram and information designed to elu-
cidate it.
2. The appropriation bill.
In it's present form the budget of
New York City is open to criticism on
many grounds. 1t does not contain all
of the proposed expenditures; it does
not indicate the nature Of the increases
over the expenditures of the previous
year; 1t does not inform US whether
increases are for new work or to meet
the increased cost Of labor and ma
terials for old work. 1t does not pre-
sent any balance sheet.
Therefore, it is proposed that the in
formational part of the budget should
include:
l. A summary statement showing the
total receipts and expenditures of the
previous two years and the estimated
receipts and expenditures for the COM
ing year.
2. Details Of the summary statement,
including departmental requests for
funds (and supporting data from de
partment chiefs) with the allowances
made by the Mayor set forth in paral-
lei columns, presenting to the board
and to the public the work require
ments as viewed by operating officials.
This analysis should be linked line by
line with the summary statement fur
nishing the supporting data for pro-
posed changes, increases or decreases.
8. An analysis Of all increases over
and decreases from the previous year,
indicating the purposes for which they
are made, such an analysis to present
the public policy and work program in