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REAL ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 25, 1915
FOR A MORE ECONOMICAL ADMINISTRATION I
Departments Which Could Be Combined and Sinecures Which
Could Be Abolished, as Recommended by the Real Estate Board
.â– â– â– liM^^^^^^^^^
THE interests of taxpayers in this
city are being defended at this time
as never before. The several real estate
bodies are doing intelligent and effec¬
tive work aud co-operating with the city
administration in behalf of more econ¬
omical government and a fairer distribu¬
tion of the ta.x burdens.
During the week the Real Estate
Board sc;it a number of pertinent com¬
munications to the sub-committee of
the Board of Estimate which is now
engaged in making up the annual city
budget. The following was in relation
to possible economies to be effected by
the city:
Possible Economies.
"The Real Estate Board believes that
Ihe Tax Budget Corairiittee is doing ex¬
cellent work and is making a serious
effort to eliminate unnecessary positions
and to pay for city work the same scale
of salaries as is paid by successful busi¬
ness corporations. It must be 'assumed
that, after a lon.g period of investigation
and standardization, this committee of
your honorable body is in possession of
facts and details which ta.xpayer organi¬
zations are not able to secure. The
board believes that the city should
abolish sinecures and pay only the cor¬
responding commercial rates for services
rendered.
"It wishes, however, to emphasize the
point that such reductions should not be
confined to the rank and file but should
he applied wherever employees are dis¬
covered to be overpaid or to be unneces¬
sary for the proper conduct of the city's
affairs. It believes that if the investi¬
gation along these lines has been as
rigid as that to discover over-payments
and sinecures among minor employees,
a very iinportant saving could be made
even though many favored office holders
should have to be dropped from the
city's pay roll. It suggests, for instance,
that the city might be able to get along
with a much smaller number of en¬
gineers than it has in various depart¬
ments, bureaus and committees and in
the Public Service Commission.
The Beard wishes to repeat its recom¬
mendations made public a year ago and
conveyed in various communications to
your honorable body as follows:
City Record.—That the powers of the
Board of City Record should be enlarged
and that it should be made a central
purchasing bureau. A measure to ac¬
complish this, but giving such power
under supervision of the Board of Esti¬
mate, was passed by the last Legislature
and was supported by the Real Estate
Board, but was not signed by the Mayor.
City Chamberlain.—That the office of
the City Chamberlain be abolished and
tjiat.the legitimate functions now falling
t-oLthe City Chamberlain be vested in the
Finance Department. That all claims
a,gainst the city be audited only by the
Comptroller's office or, if in the form of
a contract, by the Bureau of Contract
Supervision.as well as the Comptroller's
office.
Water Department.—That water taxes
be collected by the Comptroller at
T MPORTANT suggestions in line
â– ^ with the administration's policy
of retrenchment were made in
communications -to the Budget
Committee of the Board of Esti¬
mate by the Real Estate Board of
New York this week. The aboli¬
tion of sinecures, the consolidation
of certain departments, the en¬
forcement of the eight-hour day
rule, and the payment of only the
prevailing rate of wages to city
employees, were among the recom¬
mendations. Business principles
seem to be governing in budget
making this year more than ever
before.
periods during the year when such col¬
lections will not interfere with the work
of collecting otiier taxes.
Board of Education.—For a Board of
Education, small in number with paid
members to have absolute control over
all educational matters subject only to
the State Board of Education, the Board
of Estimate and the Board of Aldermen.
In this connection the Board endorses
generally the recommendations for econ¬
omy in the Board of Education recently
made by the Comptroller, at the same
time believing that some of the technical
details must be left to the discretion of
the Board of Estimate.
Department of Bridges.—For the con¬
solidation of the Department of Bridges
and the Department of Docks and
Ferries. The Board believes it to be
quite impossible that the large force and
the large annual expenditure of the De¬
partment of Bridges can be warranted
now, when all our expensive bridges are
constructed. .A. Bureau of Brid.ges under
the Dock Commission should be suf¬
ficient.
Charities and Correction.—For the
consolidation of the Department of
Charities and Department of Correction.
Hospitals.—That all hospitals be under
one administrative head.
Parks.—That there be one administra¬
tive head for parks.
Libraries.—That there be one admin¬
istrative head for public libraries.
Hours and Pay.—That all city em¬
ployees, except administrative heads,
work the legal eight hour day and be
paid only the prevailing rate of wages.
"With respect to the present activities
of the Board of Water Supply, the Real
Estate Board understands it to be the
opinion of some city officials that the
present attempt of this Board to extend
its work to Schoharie County and in
other ways to perpetuate its existence,
should be promptly checked. The Board
heartily endorses this position and be¬
lieves that in\ eslitation would prove
that the affairs of the'Board- of Water
Supply could be wound up and its duties.
transferri(:4 to- the Department- of Water
.Supply, Gas and Electricity. The Real
Estate Board will be glad to co-operate
HI so far as it is able, with the Board
of Estimate and Apportionment in ac¬
complishing this and in carrying out the
other recommendations made herein."
An Unnecessary Commission.
The following from the Real Estate
Board of New York to the Tax Budget
Committee is with reference to the
Commissidliers of Accounts. It suggests
that this office be abolished and that the
work be done by the Bureau of Muni¬
cipal Investigation in the Comptroller's
office. The recommendation follows:
"The Commissioners of Accounts ask
an appropriation of $264,565.30. Last
year they received $260,329.07, the
aniount for 1916 being $4,236.23 above
that allowed for 1915. The request for
salary increases, which make up a large
part of tiie requested increase, should be
carefully scrutinized, also the request for
two new positions with salaries totaling
$3,750. More than a thousand dollars is
also asked for office equipment and
$1,233.50 for contingencies.
"The fact which the Real Estate Board
wishes to emphasize, however, is that
the Board of Estimate should seriously
consider whether the Commissioners of
Accounts might not entirely be dispensed
with. The Commissioners of Accounts
are appointees of the Mayor, and it is
suggested that it is within the province
of the Mayor to discontinue their serv¬
ices, and that it is also within the prov¬
ince of the Board of Estimate to deny
the appropriation.
"The reason for this suggestion is that
the Comptroller's office maintains a well
equipped and efficient investigating
plant, namely the Bureau of Municipal
Investigation and Statistics, and in this
connection it might be well to refer to
investigations made by the Bureau of
Standardization and the Bureau of Fran¬
chises."
Business Principles in Budget Making.
Tlie United Real Estate Owners' As¬
sociation, through its secretary, J.
Bleecker Miller, has raised an interest¬
ing question in the proceedings before
the Budget Committee under Section
149a of the Charter, concerning the
right and duty of the Comptroller to
submit to each department or official
drawing pay from the City of New
York a blank form showing the amount
of work done during the past year by
such department or official.
This has never been done; the only
reports on which the Budget is based
show the money spent durin,g the past
year and- the money desired during the
coming year; but the amount of work
done for the money expended during
tli.e past year is not shown.
A suit will be brought to test the
right of the Spanish War Veterans to
receive money from the city for life-
saving stations and swimming instruc¬
tion; this suit will be a test of the right
of many other benevolent institutions
to draw money from the city treasury in
return for services not wholly under
the city's controlr .