The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-05-26


 nual budget for the City of Bridge port is contained in the new install ment of Thomas R. IlPs report. H criticises the construction of the bud ious headings and items, and make several suggestions and offers advic to the future makers of budgets
 The installment follows:
 The Budget.
 The preparation of the annual bud get is the most important fiscal act performed during the year.
 Under the existing Charter, the dutI of preparing the budget is placed up on a board of 12 citizens, which is known as the Board of Apportion- ment and Taxation.
 As before stated, all officers of the city entrusted with the duty of spend ing city funds must submit a re- quest, on or before January 1st ot each year, to the city auditor for the amount of money which is required by them for the next ensuing fiscal year.
 It is the duty of the city auditor to prepare and submit an estimate of the amounts required by each depart ment of the city government to the Board of Apportionment and Taxa ton at meeting thereof held on the first Tuesday in February of each year.
 The charter makes it his duty to give figures as far as possible and to recommend appropriations for the ensuing year and the tax which he shall deem necessary to meet expenses for the said fiscal year.
 The estimates as prepared by the city auditor are required to be pub lished on or before the last day of January in each year in one of the daily or weekly newspapers in the English language and having a cir culation in the City of Bridgeport of 5000 copies of each edition.
 The Board of Apportionment and Taxation may make any alteration in the estimates, appropriations, tax rates, or may make any additional appropriations which it may deem [ proper.
 Final action upon the budget is re- Quired to be taken on the last Tues day of February in each year and the estimates as finally adopted by the Board of Apportionment and Taxa ton must be published in the daily newspapers at least three days before this date. The appropriations made at this time become effective on April list following.
 No standard form for submitting the estimates to the Board of Appor- tionment and Taxation is provided, each officer, board, or committee submitting the data which it consid- CTS necessary in such form as it thinks best.
 It is my observation that if the re- quests for appropriations submitted do not contain sufficient information the Board of Apportfonment and Taxa ton does not hesitate to request such additional data as it needs
 The place of the Board of Appor- tionment and Taxation in the govern mental structure is, to my mind, somewhat of an anomaly. The board is not composed of the principal of ficers of the government, such as the Board of Estimate in the City of New Horlr -4rt is composed of private citi- zens 10 are appointed to office by the mayor for three year terms, and it would appear that they are placed in a very difficult position when it comes to giving proper consideration to the departmental requests for ap- propriations.
 They cannot but feel that the of ficers who prepared the requests are the paid servants of the city and that where such officers are subordinate to the board which is appointed by the mayor they are, nevertheless respon- ible for the proper administration of the work committed to their care
 Such being the case, if these boards and officers go on record as stating that the amounts requested by them are necessary for the proper conduct . of their departments, the Board of Apportionment and Taxation is heav- lily handicapped in proving the con trary.
 They likewise cannot help but feel that hheir individual opinion as to what is needed by a department is not as good as the opinion of the of ficia1 or officials charged with the duty of administering that department
 The Board of Appertionment and Taxation does not possess that con tinuous contact with the operations of the city department which is so vital Iy necessary to enable it to give care full and intelligent consideration to the problems brought before it througn the annual requests for ap- propriationS-
 Further, officers and boards of the city government do not make reports to the Board of Apportionment and Taxation to enable it to keep in touch with the activities of the de- partment-
 The board may decrease any de partmental request it sees fit, or it may increase such departmental esti- mates as it deems necessary. It may likewise make entirely news appro- priations which have not been re- Quested by any department head.
 Form of the Budget.
 The form of the budget was changed for the fiscal year 1921-22 upon my suggestion The purpose of the change was to set forth the in formation relating to the city finances so that the citizens could more readily understand what the Board of Appor- tionment and Taxation had done
 Previous issues of the Budget or Statement of Appropriations as it has been called, are entirely meaningless in this respect
 The most important feature of fi- nancia1 reports for corporations and business men is the separation of the operating expenses from the invest ment in plant
 This is more generally recognized now than ever before. due to the Fed era1 Income Tax Law. Therefore, ir rearranging the Budget for 1921-22 the necessary expenses of running the City were first set forth, following which are placed the fixed charges in the way of interests, payments or notes and bonds an for repayment o1 the debt, as well as payments made ir support of the State and County Gov ernments all of which are practically fixed as to payment, and ever which the Board of Appordonment and Tax ation has little control. Following +boSa items the investment In plant