Evening star., 1937-07-29
Bill Grants City Heads Riqht
to Reject Recon-
mendationS.
SPECIAL D. C. OFFICER
FOR FINANCES SOUGHT
Plan Would Make Commissioners
Alone Responsible for Fiscal
Balance in District.
BY JAMES E. CHM

The Budget Bureau would be
stripped Of its present authority to die.
tate the Districts financial policie,
uhoer the proposed municipal govern.
Hleht reorganization plan of Repre.
sentative Kennedy Democrat of Mary.
land.
Kennedy made that disclosure todav
as ne applied finishing touches to the
pian which he intends to put in the
form OF an omnibus bill and Introduce
IN the House before the end of the
week.
1ns.ead OF treating the District as it
sees Mt, the Budget Bureau, according
10 Kennedy, would have onlv ths
authority to review the estimates of the
commissioners and make recommen-
cations to them, not only as to the
items, but as to the amount of the
FEDERAL payment toward the expense,
OF the municipal government. The rec
concentrations of the Budget Bureau
would not be binding on the Commits
sloners and they could accept or reject
them as they wished.
Under present budget-makinr nro.
cedure, the Commissioners predicate
thelr estimates on recommendations OF
the various department heads. These
estimates are sent to the Budget
Bureau, and are slashed. trimmed and
altered TO suit the budget officials. The
bureau then transmits the budget to
Congress
Final Responsibility.
Kennedy. however proposes that
the Commissioners be given final and
complete responsibility for the budget.
and Will provide in his bill that the
commissioners, rather than the Budget
Bureau, transmit it to Congress. This
change, however. would not remove
the present authority of Congress to
control District appropriations.
Ihe reorganization plan also calls
Tor the creation Of a special budget
offlcer, whose duties would be to keen
IN constant touch with the Districts
financial affairs and TO do all pre-
llmlnary work in connection with the
framing Of the annual estimates. Mai.
Daniel j. Donovan. District auditor.
now serves as budget officer. but Ken
nedy pointed out he has too manv
other duties and should be relieved of
budget work.
What I have in mind is a budget
offlcer who will devote his time ex-
clusively to the Districts budget and
other financial problems" said Ken
nedy
Such an officer would permit the
District budget to be built from the
bottom up rather than from the top
down, S at present. The Commis-
sioners now make up their budget on
the basis of recommendations Of the
department heads, which always eX-
ceed the amount the District can
spend. AS a result. the Commissioners
must cut from the top. instead OF
building a budget from the bottom.
Seeks More Balanced Budget.
II believe such a change would
make it possible for the District to
have a more balanced budget each
year. The Budget Bureau could not
OS bAoiIISa lOl ally uclINll, dIlu Tie
Commissioners alone would be re-
sponsible for producing budget that
would be in keeping with available
revenues"
Kennedy's reorganization plan is de-
signed primarily to give the District
an element of home rule" through the
creation of an advisory committee of
public-spirited citizens to aid the
Commissioners in solving municipal
problems. He also proposes to recon-
mend consolidation of a number of
departments and agencies to prevent
overlapping Of services-a plan in
tended to increase the efficiency of ths
municipal government and at the
same time save taxpayers thousands
OF dollars year.