DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT Chart showing estimated budget revenue for 1948, "Where the money comes from" Chart showing estimated budget expenditures for 1948, "Where the money goes” Mr. FOWLER. Now, to bring this picture, this budget picture, right up to date, it is my suggestion, if you would take a suggestion, that you permit Captain Whitehurst to tell you about the highway fund, and then Mr. Auld to tell you about the water fund, and having that full picture, we will be available to answer any questions that you care to ask us. Senator CAIN. Before you retire, there may be questions from the members of the joint committee. Mr. BATES. Mr. Fowler, while you are on the stand, I think we might just briefly discuss the so-called Overton-O'Mahoney formula. Mr. FOWLER. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. I have that break-down here, and apparently something developed in connection with the principles embraced in the bill itself. Now, this is a question I wanted to ask you. Do you think the determination of the Federal payment ought to be made entirely on the basis of the ratio, percentage ratio of land, say, owned by the Federal Government in the District, in comparison with the land owned by the District itself, tax property in the District, exempting, as that bill would under the formula, all the park area of the District of Columbia of the United States? Mr. FOWLER. Mr. Bates, one of the most difficult things in the world is to determine a fair and just formula. Now, this thing has been considered by experts for a long period of time. Mr. BATES. Who are the experts? Mr. FOWLER. Well, the experts that the Senate had were men who were formerly connected with the General Accounting Office and the Department of Justice, and had long years of experience in these matters. I just do not remember who they are-Mr. Feeney, Mr. Merrick, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Cooper, I think, and I am sure that you will have those gentlemen who prepared the formula here to testify before the committee. We went over this with them. The Federal Bureau of the Budget has also been considering this from all angles, and I think would agree that an accurate formula would be very hard to adopt; but this is about as near and as good an approach, as far as I am concerned, as has been advanced yet. The former Overton formula was somewhat different and would have given us a considerable amount of more revenue if it had been adopted. This has been changed so that we could get a little less revenue, but the Commissioners have approved it, and we think is just about as fair 'as one can be arrived at. Mr. BATES. You think it ought to be approached from the standpoint of the relative Federal property in the District less parks? Mr. FOWLER. I think so. Mr. BATES. Compared with the taxable property in the District. Mr. FOWLER. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. Or taxable land in the District. Mr. FOWLER. Yes, sir. Mr. BATES. Has a study been made by these experts that you mention in relation to the services which cost money that the District of Columbia is compelled to render directly and indirectly to the maintenance of our Federal organization here? Mr. FOWLER. Well, I am not so sure, Mr. Bates, whether they have attempted to do that or not. Of course, we have that information; we have that data available, but I do not know whether it gives much consideration to that because it is so constantly changing. The Federal Government gives us services and we give them services. It is a very difficult thing to break down, and you will find out more about that when you talk with some of the gentlemen from the acqueduct and water service. Mr. BATES. You say that you will see that we get that information as to what the reciprocal arrangements are between the District government and the Federal Government? Mr. FOWLER. Yes, sir, we have that information. Mr. BATES. We will go into that. Mr. FOWLER. Yes, we will go into this. But may I say something about it while I have the chance, because I may not be back: That the consideration of the formula and the amount of payment to the Federal Government should have no relation whatsoever to our financial condition. Even if we had $50,000,000 surplus, we still should have an adjusted equitable formula or agreement toward what the Federal Government's share toward the District of Columbia may be. Mr. BATES. As I said previously, the situation here is not dissimilar to what it is in other parts of the country. Mr. FOWLER. That is true. Mr. BATES. We have had responses that we have made to States and communities to show that many community tax-exempt properties run from 40 to 50 percent, and even higher in many communities throughout the country as a result of State institutions, Federal institutions, charitable institutions, and so forth, which under the law are tax-exempt, and educational institutions, and we find in many States of the Union where Federal property comprises a very large percentage of the entire area of the State; so, it is not a dissimilar situation in that respect of tax-exempt property compared with taxable property. Mr. FOWLER. Only a slight difference, no, I think it is a big differYour States can expand; we cannot. ence. Mr. BATES. Well, of course, the biggest difference that I see is that you are rendering a great deal of service here that apparently has not been considered in this formula; that is the great difference as I see it, that in this District, you are compelled to render service. It costs a lot of money to render that service, where in these other States, they are not compelled to render like services. Mr. O'HARA. I would like to ask Mr. Fowler some questions. What has been the percentage increase of the demand for services by the Federal Government which the District has been paying the bill? Have you any way of giving us that? We know in a general way that there has been a constant increase, is not that true? Mr. FOWLER. There has been a constant increase because the city, as you know, has doubled in population. We have to give the Federal Government police protection, fire protection; we lay the water mains and have to lay the streets in front of property; we do all of these things; we give them eight, nine hundred thousand dollars worth of water, and many of these things that we have listed, and can present for the record. But that is constantly increasing due to the increased size of the city. Mr. O'HARA. What is the relationship of the land occupied by the Federal Government and that which is owned by the District? I have |