for special and trust fund force 1 auto engineman. Care of sewers 1 auto engineman ...... 1,200 1,200 Instead of being listed by kinds of work to be done, the proposed method would be to list the positions and salaries in the manner shown on Schedule I attached. The assignment of men to their work is a primary function of management. As at present listed, it is unlawful for the president of the borough or any one under him to assign any of the auto enginemen scheduled to work other than the one designated in the list unless formal application be made and a transfer arranged for. Such a restriction may put the chief executive in the position of either violating the law and falsely certifying a payroll or depriving the city of the services of enginemen at points where they are needed. This is a limitation which stands in the way of efficient management. What about the development of capacity in the individual employee? What about his opportunity and outlook under the present system? His work and opportunity also are limited by the action of the board of estimate and apportionment. The proposed method would give to him a department-wide opportunity. It might give him a city-wide opportunity. Given nine auto enginemen in a department such as that of a borough president, a range of salaries and grades could be established corresponding with increasing experience and responsibility which would provide for advancement within each salary grade and for promotion from one grade to another, which could be held out as a reward to those who should become most highly competent and efficient. Instead of a dead level of employment at $1200, there could be a range of experience and training as well as an opportunity which would be as broad as the service within the department. Given the same methods in each of the several departments, and a city-wide opportunity as well, a range of salaries and grades could be made general for all automobile enginemen, so that enginemen could gradually rise from one position to another until the highest place of responsibility and salary had been reached. But the advantage to the employee need not be limited to the salaries of the grades established for auto enginemen. These may be placed in a line of promotion, so that experience and training as auto enginemen may be a qualification of fitness for higher grades and positions in a broad mechanical or technical service. The proposed method of exercising financial control is superior to the present practice in that it is adapted to the development of the highest individual ability and experience and, at the same time, to regulations for governing promotion and advances in the service, the special purpose of which would be to build up the esprit de corps and strengthen the qualifications which, together with a full discretion in the utilization of the services of employees, are conditions favorable to the highest efficiency and economy in the transaction of business. Simplification of Method Made Possible Not the least among the advantages to be derived from the proposed method of financial control over salaries and wages would be the simplification of methods and the reduction of cost. The number of fund controlling accounts would be only about five per cent of those set up in the present act of appropriation. The number of lines or scheduled " items used for purposes of auditing and the number of cards in what is known as the "payroll plant" in the department of finance would be reduced to less than one-half its present size. There is everything to commend the utilization of a list of established positions with standardized salaries and grades as a part of a system of financial as well as administrative control, and nothing that can be urged against it except the initial difficulty of getting persons to agree to make a change in the form of the act of appropriation. This will be largely overcome by the evident advantage to the work which has already been marked out for the bureau of standards of the board of estimate and apportionment and the civil service commission as a part of a general constructive program that may be completed to a point of utilization before a budget is required to be submitted. CHAPTER IV CONDITIONS ATTACHED TO APPROPRIATIONS FOR SUPPLIES, MATERIALS, AND EQUIPMENT The present form of act of appropriation is one in which the functional classification of supplies, materials, and equipment has been largely abandoned. This is present, however, to such an extent that it still multiplies accounts without in any manner assisting in the exercise of control over purchasing and contractual relations, thereby hampering the administration of the funds. Itemization of the 1914 Appropriations A typed illustration of both the method and the result is found in the classification of supplies for the department of street cleaning. As will be seen, the total amount of $554,794.90 for supplies is divided into six different subclassifications of things to be purchased, namely: (1) food supplies; (2) forage and veterinary supplies: (3) fuel supplies; (4) office supplies; (5) motor vehicle supplies; and (6) general plant supplies. Assuming that there may be some reason for the exercise of control with respect to the amounts granted for supplies for food, forage, fuel, office, motor vehicle, and general plant, of what possible advantage can it be to designate under plant supplies, motor vehicle supplies, the character of use to be made of them as Functional Classification Worse Than Useless In order to provide for economical purchase, it may be desired at the beginning of the year to spend a large part of the total for motor vehicle supplies and to place them in stock, but when they are purchased and placed in stock, some account must be charged; otherwise, the head of the department will not be able to draw voucher for the payment of the bill. What account will be charged? Will the $782.50 item for general administration be first completely exhausted before the several accounts for borough administration will be charged, or will there be an attempt made to forecast how a particular kind of motor vehicle supply will be ultimately used? No one can tell for what use these supplies will be issued or whether they will all be issued within the year of their purchase -that is, within the year for which the appropriation is made. Induces False Accounting But let us assume that there may be some fair degree of accuracy in forecasting the use as between general administration and borough administration. Of what possible advantage can it be to undertake to charge a thing when purchased against Manhattan, Brooklyn, or the Bronx? This certainly can serve no controlling purpose. Even if charged against one or the other at the time of the purchase, in case the funds of Manhattan may run low, there is no reason why the things needed may not be purchased and charged against the Brooklyn account. The operation of such a classification is either to put a restriction on funds which operates against the making of purchases to advantage or to put the officer in position where he will wink at the appropriation limits and make the accounts conform to official convenience. Recognizing these defects in the method of classification, the itemization of functional classification of supplies has been entirely eliminated in the case of such large departments as Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. If there is need for such itemization in the street cleaning department, there is the same need in Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. Here there are four |