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Show Budget Gives City Business Basis Late Adoption Causes : Problems . Discharged Employes Never Missed y JOHN r. HALL Spending ef money by the eity commission at the present time hss assumed a businesslike apsesrsnee aa compared te the spending frem the first ef the yeer te the middle ef July, the time when the sity budget wss adopted. Until twe weeks age, when the budget was adopted, members ef the eity commission transacted the bueineee ef their deportments with no regard for the limitations te be placed en expenditures fcy the budget. 'At the present time, the oommieeioners knew ok sot I y hew much their deportments may spend and radioal cuts have been made neeeessry in prsoticslly every department. An example ef the problems caueed by failure ef the city com' mission te adopt a budget and put ite affaire en a businesslike beels until the lest four months of the year is feund In ene effice which started the year figuring en a payroll of approximately $15,000 and an additienel expenditure ef approximately S1000. On this basis the -effice functioned, for the firet coven months of the year. Then the commissioners, mooting In budget session, and "cutting te the bone," trimmed the allowance ef the effice almost 12000, or leee than the payroll with which the effice hsd operated durlnathe . ef the office te reduce hie average of expenditures during the last months ef the year so thet the 12000 could be saved and the only wey te accomplish this was to cut the werklngferoe In half. Had the budget been adapted In February, the 12000 oeuld have bees) spread ever the entire year and absorbed without crippling the office. . With the unprecedented city tox levy ef 11.4 mills feeing eity taxpayers, eerly adaption ef a budget and etrlct adherenee te policy of strict economy during the entire and net Just the last five months of eeeh yeer is nsceesary. According te persona In eloee touch with the city's financial eenditien, and according te opinions expressed by many ef the leading figuree at the recent convention ef the Natianel Aeeoeiation of Comptrollers and Accountant, which le composed of eity auditors, comptrollers and treasurers, delaying the adaption ef a budget until the lest few months ef a year la unbueineeelike and ie cure te result In extravagance. If the cemmieeieners of Belt Leke bed adopted their budget early In the yeer and had adhered to ite previsione with the same economy thet le marking the lest five months ef the year, it haa been con. eervatively eetimated that tha budget would hava keen rsdus.d fifty or sixty theueand dellare. - Since the budget wee adopted, severs I city employee have been dropped from the payrolls. The explanation hae been mode that the employee have been discharged because the budget will not permit their employ. Little ehsngs in sity affairs has been netlood with the dropping of the employee, and the eueetion hea bssn asksd why ths employee were neeeeeary before adoption ef tha budget if they can be elimlneted new. |