Mr. FOWLER. Well, I will say that in a great number of instances the Congress have passed legislation that the Commissioners have opposed. They have opposed the legislation, and you requested a few moments ago that we give you citations and we will be very glad to furnish you with that information. Senator CAIN. One other question, please: According to your present estimates, if the Congress were to pass the revenue measures that you have in mind, if the Congress is to give the same cash contribution to the District that it gave a year ago, you would balance your budget? Mr. FOWLER. That is correct. Senator CAIN. With how much of a surplus? Mr. FOWLER. Well, I told you that we would have in the reserve fund $3,698,000. These other mandatory items, besides the salaries which, as you see, is very substantial, are something we have to face whether we want to or not until the whole philosophy of government is changed and things start coming down again. Civil-service retirement fund, $337,000; teachers' retirement fund, legislation of last year, $1,098,000; we have got the law and we have to pay the bill; the police and firemen's relief due to the increase in salaries in the case of police and firemen, their relief went up to the extent of $425,000 which we had to put into this budget. The United States courts, $151,000; and St. Elizabeths Hospital, $2,451,000, and it is rapidly increasing; so that our mandatory provisions alone were over $9,000,000. Mr. BATES. Was that a direct result of the new legislation or was it a result of the Retirement Act being tied in with the general salary schedules on a percentage basis, or, in other words, the retirement law providing that when the salaries or wages of any District employee, any group, is increased, the percent shall apply also to the retirement allowance? Mr. FOWLER. That only relates to the police and firemen and not to anyone else. Mr. BATES. Then you mention schools. Mr. FOWLER. The school teachers' retirement fund was changed entirely last year. Mr. BATES. And that resulted in an increase of how much? Mr. FOWLER. $1,098,000. Mr. BATES. Did the Commissioners come up here and recommend that? Mr. FOWLER. The Commissioners did not oppose that because it is bringing the school teachers in line with other Federal employees; there was no opposition. Mr. BATES. I am not asking whether it was opposed. How did it come up here? Mr. FOWLER. The Commissioners approved it. Mr. BATES. Was it the Commissioners' bill? Mr. FOWLER. Certainly. Mr. BATES. Then it was the Commissioners' bill; they are the ones who suggested it; it was not an item forced on them. Mr. FOWLER. That item was not forced. Of course, the St. Elizabeths item and other items were not approved, but we have to meet the costs just the same. The Commissioners, in budget preparation, must of necessity bear in mind the role of the Federal Bureau of the Budget with respect to the District of Columbia budget estimates and legislation. Specifically, the Bureau of the Budget, in reviewing supplemental and annual estimates for recommendation to the President and transmission to the Congress, centers its review upon the revenue estimates, the allocation of capital outlay moneys, the reimbursement to the United States Treasury of Federal loans, the amount of Federal payment, and the balancing of the budget. In preparation for the making up of a proposed budget, a study of existing and anticipated revenue availability is usually made in September of each year, followed by four or five meetings in the course of the year for the purpose of checking and reviewing such estimates. It is the usual practice to make a review immediately preceding the presentation of our estimates to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. However, in view of the importance of these hearings and the change in real-estate assessments, a review was requested about a week ago so that we had the representatives of the Federal Bureau of the Budget in our office to review the estimates, and at the conclusion of that study we found that our estimates of anticipated revenues could be raised $1,350,000. Mr. BATES. That is separate and distinct from the new tax proposal that you are making. Mr. FOWLER. That is right. We have found that much more revenue, so that means, of course, that you can consider that in connection with your program. If the formula for increased contributions was to pass and this increase of revenue considered, it might be that you should make some material changes in the legislation that you would have to pass. In connection with that, may I present for the record several statements that I sent you, Mr. Chairman, and that I heard you say were very informative. First is a summary statement of the budget estimate for 1948, compared with the 1947 appropriations. That is a little statistical table, but will prove interesting, I am sure. This is an analysis of the increases and other obligations in 1948 operating expenses; an analysis of the personal service increases, other than mandatory for 1948; and then I have here the break-down of the operating expenses in the general fund which will be, I am sure, very informative to the committee; and I have here also a tabulation which may or may not be helpful, because you can do all kinds of things with figures, but I asked one of my employees to prepare a table showing "where the money comes from," and "where the money goes," and that is prepared in a chart form, which you may find of some help. (The documents referred to are as follows:) |