Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 94, no. 2430: Articles]: October 10, 1914

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REAL ESTATE AND i^ BUILDERS NEW YORK, OCTOBER 10, 1914 iijiiii^^ mmim ..■;.r>;fr,i^ ■■<,fjl^ RESPONSIBILITY FOR CITY EXTRAVAGANCE I Mandatory Legislation From Albany Has Limited the Power of the City Government — Real Estate Board's Suggestion to Budget Committee. H iimiiiii^^ m THE hearings before the sub-commit¬ tee on Tax Budget of the Board of Estimate have brought out an unusual amount of interest on the part of tax¬ payers. Or, to put it a little differently and at the same time emphasize a very important point, the interest taken by taxpayers has reacted in wide public in¬ terest in this matter of apportionmg, within the limits of reasonable economy, the ainounts to be spent by the various city departments in 1915. The Real Estate Board, which is sub¬ mitting in concrete form sur^'^estions and criticisms to the sub-committee hav- ino- this matter in charge has, accortl- ing to Laurence M. D. McGuire, presi¬ dent of the Board, received durinsr the week many expressions of encourage¬ ment for its work along these lines. Mr, McGuire has lost no opportunity to make it plain that these daily sugafes- tions submitted on the budget requests are not criticisms of men, but of meth¬ ods. "It is rather difficult," Mr. McGuire says, "to present these concrete sug¬ gestions on the subject of economy, and at the same time avoid wounding the sensibilities of some official or group of officials. But it would be most unfor¬ tunate, and certainly most undeserved on the part of the Real Estate Board, if any such construction should be placed on the recommendations which, after all, are merely in line with a definite policy adopted by this Board and communicat¬ ed to the BoL.rd of Estimate some weeks ago. Not Common Scolds. "It is unfortunately true that some taxpayers have in the past been apt to criticise in such general terms and so insistently, that all taxpayers would al¬ most deserve it if the city officials had come to regard them in the light of common scolds. "The Real Estate Board may be im¬ portunate, but it is trying not to be vague. It is presenting a cause which assuredly warrants persistence, and in a manner that cannot but be approved if a bill of particulars is what is desired. "The Tax Budget Committee's hear¬ ings have been in progress two weeks. There remains a great many depart¬ ments to be considered. It would be almost impossible to cover so wide a field as represented by the workings of the various departments without mak¬ ing some recomm mdation or suggest¬ ing some method that would not be at wide variance with official thought and practice. Delayed Estimates. "It is also most unfortunate that, in spite of the fact that the Charter in Section 226 makes it mandatory that Departmental estimates shall be pre¬ sented by Sept. 10. and that the Mayor in June urged heads of departments to have these estimates ready by July 1, many of these estimates are not yet ready, or were not ready up to a day or two ago. This certainly does not give the public that opoortunity for investi¬ gation that the Charter provision in¬ tended. LAURENCE M. D. McGTJIRE, President Real Estate Board. "In several particulars our recommen¬ dations have been radical. City officials are jealous of their authority, jealous of their official menage, so to speak. Economies do not always appeal to them. Sometimes the inertia of depart¬ mental habit or custom stands in the way of changes which if sugested as ap¬ plicable to others than themselves would be considered highly desirable by de¬ partment heads. "It is not surprising, therefore, that the possibility of giving offense where the sole purpose is to give real, though not disinterested, assistance suggests it¬ self. Wherfe Responsibility Rests. "Upon one point, however, there should be no misunderstanding. And on this point taxpayers are apt to go widely astray. Very few criticisms _ of city expenditures make any distinction between the responsibility which prop¬ erly rests upon city officials and that which should be placed upon the State Legislature. In other words, any criti¬ cism of the budget allowances which does not take into account the portion fairly attributable to mandatory legis¬ lation is manifestly unfair to the Eoard of Estimate. "It requires very minute analysis of the City Budget to make an absolutely clear division of what is mandatory and what is not. Even after such an anal¬ ysis there might be some difference of opinion. And there is also a further separation of responsibility as between the Board of Estimate as a whole and its Chairman, as Mayor of the city. "Let us see to what extent the Board of Estimate is responsible and there¬ fore accountable for increases in the budo-et. Just about a year ago City Chamberlain Bruere, who was then a di¬ rector in the Bureau of Municipal Re¬ search, in an article in the Record and Guide stated that after deducting the items required for debt service. Board of Education State taxes. County offi¬ ces, the City's contribution to the Police pension fund and several other items 'there is left approximately $85,000,000 as the part of the budget over which the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, individually or collectively, has more or less complete administrative jurisdic¬ tion.' This was based on the 1913 bud¬ get of $192,711,441.16. "Let us take the 1914 budget for fur¬ ther analysis. This budget was $192.- 995,551.62. The verv largest item, that of debt service. $52,611,517.65, is prac¬ tically beyond the control of the Board of Estimate, as it represents bonds is¬ sued and obligations incurred by pre¬ ceding administrations. The following is a reasonable statement of the amounts for which the Board of Estimate is not responsible, and the total for which it is, as Mr. Bruere puts it, 'individually or collectively' responsible: Total Budget 1014. $192,095,r>.'jl Board of Estimate's responsibilitv. Debt service ........... $52,611,517 Board of Education (city's share)........ 28.170.400 Police Dep't............ 13,022.005 Fire Dep't............. 7.480.272 State tax.............. 4.57G.80:J Deficiency in tax lew. . 2.500,00<1 Bellevue & Allied Hos¬ pitals ................ 1.400.0fi;i Board of Elections...... 1..3o9.715 College City of N. Y. . . 684,9^3 Armory Board......... 309,615 Board of Aldermen and City Cleric........... 301.218 Board of Coroners..... 159,598 .$113,415,.39S Only nominally responsible for. County charges: New York............ .f'1,006.164 Kings ............... 1.860,5.50 Queens ............. 440,797 The B'ronx........... 273.941 Richmond ........... 139.712 $6,630,165 $120,045,.564 Leaves Board of Estimate re¬ sponsible for................ $72,049,987 "This is a liberal estimate. Probably a closer analysis figured so as to include resnonsibility for certain phases of ad¬ min'strative details where economies, could be insisted on, would bring the amount up to about $80,000,000. It is true there are certain mandatory pro¬ visions for minor sums for charities and special purposes, but these are not large enough to affect the above estimate. "This places responsibility on the Board of Estimate for approximately 41 per cent, of the total budget. The debt service represents another 27 per cent. Mandatory legislation claims the other 32 per cent. "These facts the Real Estate Board has tried to take full account of in mak¬ ing its recommendations to the Tax Budget Committee, whose findings and recommendations will be reviewed by the Board of Estimate. "We have also found it necessary, however, to call attention to certain conditions which it is not npw in the povv^er of the Board of Estimate to remedy. "But we have done this with a definite purpose. It is assumed that where these recommendations have merit—and we hope many of them have—the city of¬ ficials, in the interests of economy and retrenchment, will either initiate or sup¬ port such legislation, or any necessary constitutional amendments looking to real Home Rule. Several of them have