Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-26
Wreck of a Program.

While oficial confirmation is lack
ing because of the silly secrecy de-
nanded in budget practice, there seems
no doubt that the Commissioners
have based their estimates for q budget
Of $4s, 0o0,000 for 1892 on a $3.50 tax
rate and a $4,000 900 Federal contribu-
ton. One Of the interesting results Is that
the District auditors so-called Five
Year Financial Program" for the city
has been knocked into a cooked hat,
and along with it former assertions
Of the auditor and others that begin
ming with the fiscal year 1880 the Dis
trict could finance five-year program
Of spending some $23O,6OO,ooO, without
any increase being necessary in the
tax rate or in the lump sum. The
fact no doubt remains that had the
program been followed, neither Of
these increases would have been nee
essary. But the program has not been
followed, and judging from appear
ances there were never any great ex-
pectations that it would be followed.
For four or five years the Board of
Trade asked the Commissioners to draw
up flve-year program of proposed ex-
penditures so that the taxpayers would
have some idea Of where they were
heading. Such program would en-
phasize the relative Importance Of vari-
Gus projects and at least permit dis
cussion Of what could be done and
what could not be done. In March,
1929, Mai. Donovan prepared such a
program, prefacing it with an explana-
ton which stated, with other things,
that .'it was because the auditor be-
lieved study of this kind would be
helpful and informative to the Com
missioners, the Budget Bureau and the
committees In Congress. as well as Of
interest to residents of the District of
Columbia, that he undertook the prepa-
ration Of the F1ve-Year Financial Pro-
gram. Particularly at this time 1t will
be Of assistance to the Commissioners
In their framing of the municipal
budget for the hscal year ending June
80, 1881, work on which is now in
progress. The initial experience In the
drafting Of this financial program sug-
gests the desirability Of its revision from
time to time, say once a year.
There Is no good reason why q pro-
gram OF this kind could not be made
q permanent institution, as each year
the nearest fiscal year can be dropped
from the program and another fiscal
year added to the other end Of the
program. This arrangement would also
afford an opportunity for an annual
revision"
Obviously. there Is some good rea-
aon" that has discouraged the auditor
and evidently has led hirn to give up
the five-year programs annual revision
as q bad Job. Instead Of decreasing in
1892, az provided for in the financial
program, the budget is increasing, or
ct least seeking the level Of the 1881
budget. Last year Congress showed no
appreciate interest in the fiye-year
program, and little intention of being
guided by its recommendations. Its ac-
tion on the 1891 budget threw the pro-
teresting, If uninportant, wreck.
Nobody in washington knows what
the tax rate viii be two years hence.
There is good ground for reasonably
accurate conjecture perhaps, but the
tax rate next year is uncertain. Mo-
body knows the direction of city ex-
penditures except that they are going
UP. The futility of planning in adj
vance, when the legislators who must
approve the plans are of in the hustings
shouting to their own constituents, is
emphasized along with the impotence
Of the local taxpayers who remain at
their mercy when the legislators come
trooping back again, ready for bigger
and better things in the relative
~ few days that the welfare and growth
Of the Capital and its residents will
occupy their profound attention.
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