The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-06-14

Griffenhagen Letter
 To the Honorable the Board of Aldermen of City of Waterbury City Hall
 Waterbury, Connecticut.
 Dear Sirs:-
 This letter is written in com pliance with the request of the subcommittee on Procedure of the Committee of the Whole" ap- pointed by your Board on June 7th to consider the problems re- sulting from the deficit for 1888, examine all departments, and recommend methods by which ex- penditures may be reduced. We understand that the Sub Commit tee would like to have a statement from us as to whether we could serve you in the making of the de- tailed studies, inquiries, examina- = tions. and appraisals necessary to an impartial, objective, profess sional determination of the mini mum needs for expenditures for the carrying on of the essential functions of the city government. We also understand that you would like to have us outline briefly the procedure we would follow to that end.
 We shall be glad to undertake this assignment. It has been our professional business for 27 years to render exactly this kind of service. We have had an un- rivalled opportunity in this period to acquire valuable fund of practical experience in such work and can place at our disposal promptly staff of experienced and competent consultants and assistants.
 Our procedure would be to pre- pare what might be called a model economy budget. We would con- sider each department. institution, and other agency of the city gov- ernment separately and consider each class and item of expendi- ture separately and arrive at a determination from an adequate, first-hand examination of actual conditions and true needs. We would report our conclusions to you with respect to each depart ment or other agency as com- pleted and would in each report show the amount deemed by us to be needed in comparison with the amount appropriated and ex- plain the reason for the differ ence, if any. We would also indi- cate the steps necessary to keep the expenditures for the remainder of the year down to the minimum figure arrived at.
 We would separate recommen- dations within the power of the city authorities to carry out from recommendations calling for changes in charter or statutes.
 Upon completion of the depart ment examinations, we would con- sider all general items of expen- allure not falling within depart ments and we would prepare & summary statement of plan of financing the city for 1888. The work thus described would in ef- feet be drafting a budget for the year 1889.
 We could make a start within five days of the receipts of in- structions by transferring some members of our organization from work that is not so urgent. Our charges would be in the form of a monthly fee bill based on the number and grades of the special ists assigned and the hours of work done by them. The total for each month could be kept within any figure you might name and would determine the rate of speed. Within sixty days we could give you fairly close estimate of the total cost. We suggest the as- signment of five or six specialists at a cost of about 5000 a month or smaller staff If lesser rate of progress will be satisfactory. The agreement could be termin- ated at any time on a weeks notice.
 Faithfully yours,
 GRIFFENHAGEN & ASSOCIATEs