Half-Time Budget Methods
| Author | Lent D. Upson |
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300110 |
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
69
Half-Time
Budget
Methods
BY
LENT
D.
UPSON
Director,
Detroit
Bureau
of
Governmental
Research,
and
Professorial
Lecturer
in
Municipal
Administration,
University
of
Michigan
GREAT
results
were
promised
from
modern
budget
methods.
Pro-
fessor
A.
R.
Hatton,
in
editing
the
vol-
ume
on
&dquo;Public
Budgets,&dquo;
in
The
Annals,
issued
by
the
American
Acad-
emy
of
Political
and
Social
Science
in
November,
1915,
said:
It
may
be
made
one
of
the
most
potent
instruments
of
democracy ...
The
budget
provides
a
means
through
which
citizens
may
assure
themselves
that
their
effort
which
has
been
devoted
to
common
ends
is
pot
used
for
private
gain,
is
not
misused,
or
frittered
away,
but
is
applied
to
the
accomplishment
of
those
purposes
which
the
community
approved
and
is
made
to
produce
the
maximum
results
for
the
efforts
expended.
During
the
fifteen
years
since
modern
budget
methods
were
inaugurated
in
New
York
City,
through
the
efforts
of
the
New
York
Bureau
of
Municipal
Research,
the
budget
has
been
one
of
several
administrative
reforms
that
have
contributed
to
the
present
high
effectiveness
particularly
of
city
gov-
ernment.
Combined
with
adequate
accounting,
centralized
purchasing,
ca-
pable
civil
service,
and
standardized
salaries,
plus
the
elimination
of
ward
elected
councils
and
partisan
national
politics,
an
entirely
new
spirit
has
been
brought
into
municipal
housekeeping.
But
the
budget
has
not
become
one
of
the
most
potent
instruments
of
democracy,-not
that
Professor
Hatton
was
wrong
as
a
prophet,
but
because
the
public
cannot
make
full
use
of
the
instrument
in
their
hands.
Budget
procedure
has
stopped
halfway
in
its
development.
Accomplishing
magnifi-
cent
results
in
its
inception,
the
special-
ists
in
administration
either
have
been
satisfied
or
have
found
the
second
half
of
the
task
too
difficult,.
WHAT
THE
BUDGET
HAS
ACCOMPLISHED
As
a
deterrent
to
reckless
expendi-
tures,
modern
budget
methods,
as
applied
in
city
government,
at
least,
have
produced
decidedly
tangible
re-
sults.
Appropriations
represent
an
adminis-
trative
program.
This
improvement
has
been
expedited
through
the
adop-
tion
by
several
hundred
cities
of
city
manager
or
the
strong
mayor-council
type
of
government,
which
place
both
fiscal
and
administrative
responsibility
directly
upon
the
executive.
It
is
now
unusual
to
find
a
city
budget
prepared
by
a
committee
or
committees
of
the
council
who
are
unfamiliar
with
depart-
mental
needs,
who
frequently
have
political
axes
to
grind,
and
who
are
not
actually
responsible
for
the
conduct
of
government.
The
chief
administrative
officer
prepares
a
fiscal
program
and
presents
it
to
the
legislative
body
for
adoption
or
amendment,
which
usually
means
a
carefully
prepared
plan
of
expenditure.
Expense
is
limited
to
revenue.
Per-
haps
the
most
severe
criticism
leveled
at
former
methods
of
appropriation
was
the
frequent
absence
of
correlation
between
anticipated
revenue
and
an-
ticipated
expense.
Even
were
some
effort
made
to
secure
a
statement
of
anticipated
revenues,
in
the
absence
of
centralized
responsibility,
no
one
could
be
found
willing
to
assume
responsi-
bility
for
reducing
departmental
esti-
mates
to
such
estimates.
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