492 PARKS 



of good park management is planning ahead, and if this cannot be done 

 with certainty, at least on a minimum basis, the service is inevitably crippled. 

 (&) Under this system it will often be necessary for park governing author- 

 ities or the executive or both to spend a great deal of time that might other- 

 wise be better employed in maintaining political influence. This is generally 

 very distasteful to park governing authorities and especially to good exec- 

 utives, (c) There is always danger of those who hold the purse strings 

 interfering in the organization and conduct of the department, as in the 

 selection and appointment of employees, or in bringing pressure for some 

 particular improvement, or the institution of some particular activity, 

 although more needful things ought to be done. 



On the other hand, this method of financing the operation and main- 

 tenance of park and recreation systems is more in harmony with the general 

 theory and practice in American municipal and county governments than 

 any other plan of financing. Moreover, the possible ills mentioned above 

 are not necessarily always present under this system. But, on the whole, 

 park and recreation authorities prefer a more sure and stable method than 

 this system makes possible. The extent to which this method is used in 

 financing the operation and maintenance of park systems in the larger cities 

 of the country is shown in the following table: 



Number Deriving Chief Source 

 of Revenue for Operation and 

 Maintenance from Municipal 

 City Groups Census, 1920 Number Cities Appropriations 



Over 1,000,000* 3 2 



500,000 to 1,000,000 9 6 



250,000 to 500,000 13 8 



100,000 to 250,000 43 37 



50,000 to 100,000 76 27 



2. Special Tax Levies for Operation and Maintenance. 



Largely because of the uncertainty of revenue for general park purposes 

 under the annual appropriation system and the consequent inability of park 

 authorities to plan their work effectively, there has developed the plan of 

 allowing a special tax of a given number of mills on the dollar or a given num- 

 ber of cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation of property 

 within the limits of cities or counties. The special tax system is also used 

 in metropolitan park districts on an apportionment basis as among the 

 several incorporated communities within the district. 



The advantages of the special tax system are practically the disadvan- 

 tages of the annual appropriation system reversed, (a) It gives the park 

 executive a definite assurance of at least a minimum amount of income. 



1 In Chicago the Bureau of Parks, Playgrounds and Bathing Beaches derives its operation revenue from 

 municipal appropriations; independent park districts chiefly from special tax levies. 



