60 Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency 



if it should seem desirable to do so. The Bureau suggests 

 that each board adopt a rule that no ordinance be passed 

 at the same meeting at which it is presented and not 

 until a copy of the proposed ordinance has been published 

 in the official proceedings. 



General Financial Methods. 



1. The annual expenditures of the Lincoln Park Board 

 are based on an annual estimate or budget, which is 

 formally adopted each year preceding the making of a 

 tax levy, and is subsequently revised to conform thereto 

 in amount. It serves as a financial guide throughout the 

 year. The South Park Board adopts a budget similar to 

 that of Lincoln Park, but does not do so until nearly a 

 year after the tax levy has been made and several months 

 after the collection and expenditure of the taxes have 

 begun. The West Park Board adopts no estimate or 

 budget whatsoever, except as each piece of new work is 

 planned. 



2. Sound business principles demand that a definite 

 financial plan be adopted by each Park Board at the be- 

 ginning of each year as a guide for that year, and that 

 the plan adopted be adhered to. Moreover, the public 

 is entitled to know at the beginning of each year how the 

 Park Boards, which are public bodies, propose to expend 

 the millions of dollars with which they are entrusted. 



3. Bonds issued by or for the benefit of the park dis- 

 tricts do not command as high a price in the bond market 

 as bonds of the City government or of Cook County, which 

 fact is another argument for consolidation of the park 

 districts with the city. Some of the bonds which appeared 

 to have been sold at a premium have in fact netted less 

 than par. This was usually occasioned by allowing pur- 

 chasers of bonds to defer payments therefor either without 

 interest or at a low rate of interest. The million dollar 4 

 per cent, bond issue put out by the West Park Board in 

 1911, which appeared to have sold at par, was in fact 



