Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-09
No Blue-sky District Budget!

Advocates and defenders of the
lamp.sum method Of Federal partici,
patton in the expense OF maintaining
the Capital municipality have always
urged that II the District would &C.
cept this substitute for the fixedsratio
principle Congress would be much
more liberal toward washington and
permit its advancement more rapidly
te the point Of satisfactory develop
rnent. Apparently the hump ssum
method has, for the present at least.
been definitely established, and there
IL certainly material increase IN
the amount of the appropriations for
District purposes. And In antieipe'
.-tion of even greater hberality on the
part of Congress with the District 2
money, budgetary estimates nave
nov been framed by the various
hya inches of the District government
that total nearly s5e,eoo,oee. Tbs
citizens Advisory Council has In 2
shirt of proper caution urged that
the budget be limited to sss,eoo,eoe,
hut the Commissioners have decided
IL establish the figure at e4e,0ee,oOe,
Thus the effect OF the dsmonstra-
ton by Congress Of q disposition TO
~ more free In spending the Dis
trict,s money, so long as the Federal
centribution remains at es,oee,eco, Is
il be seen In q marked advance IN
the scale of expenditure BY ell the
subordinate dc apartments OF the Dis
{rict government. In anticipation OF
the adoption Of Z so ,eOo,eo0 budget,
the Commissioners have determined
ifDon a tax rate for the new year Of
$3.50, an increase from SIZE. Had
the departmental estimates been fully
approved and adopted by the Com.
raissieners and the Bureau OF the
Rudget the rate would have had to
ne to $3.50, or more than double the
cd rate.
This tendency TO swell the budget.
REGARDLESS OF the cost to the takpay.
ere, is to be deplored, Il is TO BE-
checked by the Commissioners. even
more positively than they have al
ready indicated rs their purpose.
Otherwise, in the course Of avery
short time the District win be swamp
"a in expenditures and burdened with
iaxes to pay which viii bring the
eeFnnunity to the point Of acute, dis
tFass,
with the fixedTstio principle dis
eerded, Congress has no interest
whatever in curtailing the District
appropriations. While that principle
acted in the past as a hampering
brake upon the progress of the Dis
tricf in one respect. by causing Con.
kress to count the Federal pennies
doled out to the District and the
District pennies taken to match them,
II served to prevent sxtravaganee.
II was often discouragiHg to and the
Districts budget cut down below the
point Of real nsed, because Of the
necessity Of Federal economy. But
it was at the same, time reassuring
70 feel the pressure Of the brakes to
keep the municipal machine from
progressing at . reckless speed.
with the iuBap-sum principle In
vogue, the District must apply its
own. brakes, and it behooves al who
participate in the framing Of the
budget to remember that every DOL
lar added TO the next apprepria tian
bin over and above the amount ear
Red by the present law win come out
~ the pockets OF the District tax
payers, with no corresponding help
from the Federal Treasury 1t is
easy 10 write estimates in large round
figures and II is not difiicult for the
district Commissioners TO increase
the figure Of the tax rate. but the
people who pay the difference in
terme u higher levies do not fnd
4 sssy.
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