Evening star., 1927-08-16
Commissioners Must Pare
OFF S3,192,220 From
Own Estimates.
URGENT REQUIREMENTS
MAY BOOST FINAL SUM
Usual "Last Chance" Granted by
Gen.. Lord Before Con-
gress Meets

Cutting somewhat deeper than pre-
vious reports indicated, the budget
bureau officially notified the Commits
sioners today that a tentative limit Of
s3S,SO4,7S0 has been placed on the Dis
trict estimates for the next fiscal year.
Since the preliminary figures submit.
ted by the city heads several weeks
ago totaled $41 ,997,O 900, the limitation
definitely fixed today means that the
Commissioners must pare off $3,192.-
22O before submitting their revised
estimates on September Is.
Following the practice Of former
years, Budget Director Fl. M. Lord
told the Commissioners in his letter
today that they will be given the priv.
ilege, however, of submitting a sup.
Elemental list of urgent requirements.
Tentative Maximum"
1t Is more than likely that the Com.
n1issioners will take advantage of the
opportunity of submitting urgent sup
pementals after they have brought
the regular book of estimates down to
the limitation fixed. If they follow
that course. they may be able to OBJ
tain slight increase in the total be-
fore the budget finally is transmitted
to Congress this Fall. AS the letter
from Gen. Lord states. the limitation
fixed today is tentative maximum"
Reports from the Summer White
House at Rapid City, where Gen. Lord
was caller few days ago. indi-
Gated the Districts budget would he
tentatively set at 39.5OO.OOO. The Off.
cial letter received today shows the
limit to be approximately S695 900 less.
The task now confronting the Com
missioners is to go through their pre-
liminary estimates and eliminate some
new projects here and there, such az
less important street paving item. a
sewer main or school building pro-
posal, until they have eliminated a
| total of approximately S3,000.000.
A year ago when the preliminary
estimates were submitted, he Budget
| Bureau fixed the tentative maximum
| at $3S,573, ,S39, so that this year, at
| the same stage in the process of
budget-making, the Commissioners
have been allowed approximately $780,
941 more than year ago.
| The Budget Bureau letter states that
the limitation of $3S. .8O4.7S0 includes
all items that are appropriated for in
| the District bill and $2,7S0,000 for
permanent and indefinite appropria-
| tions. This last mentioned figure
covers such funds as school teachers
retirement, policemen and firemen re-
| tirement, trust fund deposits and SIM
| liar sums that are handled by the
District Government Aside from
these permanent and indefinite items.
therefore, the tentative limitation
leaves something more than S36,000,-
90 for routine expenses of the mu-
nicipality and physical Improvements
to the city.
Gen. Lords Letter.
The letter from Gen. Lord to the
Commissioners follows:
II have the honor to advise you
that the President has allocated to the
District of Columbia S3S.SO4,7S0 as a
tentative maximum amount of the total
of your estimates for the fiscal year
ending June 80. 1929. This amount
includes all items which are appropri-
ated for in the District of Columbia
appropriation act and s2.7S0,000 for
permanent and indefinite appropri-
ations.
Your regular estimates for the
fiscal year 1929, 10 he submitted on or
before September Is, 1927. and pre-.
pared in accordance with the inst.'uc-
tiOns Of July Is, 1927, should not,
therefore, exceed in their total the
amount above stated.
IF your estimates thus prepared do
not in your opinion meet the abso.
lutely necessary requirements of the
District of Columbia, they will be ac.
companied by a supplemental state.
ment showing the additional amount
which you believe will be required
allocated to appropriation titles. and
setting forth the necessity therefor. In
stating the necessity for such increase
it is requested that you indicate the
consequences which would result from
failure to secure the additional amount
that you recommend"