The New York Times/1900/12/01/Charter Revision is Now Complete
CHARTER REVISION IS NOW COMPLETE
Vital Changes Proposed in the City Government.
THE MAYOR'S POWER CURBED
Board of Estimate Reformed—To Abolish Municipal Assembly—Single Police Head—School Amendments.
By arrangements made with Gov. Roosevelt the Charter Rivision Commission will give out to-day the report of the changes which it thinks should be made in the government of the city. It has also been decided that the public shall be informed of the recommendations of the commission on Monday morning.
The report will be signed to-day. George L. Rives, who has charge of the publication of the document, assures the public that no copy will be given out for publication before that day and if any paper purports to print the report the copy will have been obtained by surreptitious means.
It is said that the hardest work of the commission was to find some way by which the power of the Mayor as the practical head of the Board of Estimate could be curbed. Under the present charter the majority of the members of the board are controlled by the Mayor through his own election and his personal appointments to the offices of Corporation Counsel and President of the Department of Taxes and Assessments.
The charge made against the Board of Estimate has been that while it was practically in control of the City Government, as it regulated all expenses, the body was not representative of the people. Various remedies were suggested. The idea which the commission wanted embodied in the revised charter was to have a majority of the Board of Estimate elected by the people.
The proposed new law, it is said, will make the Board of Estimate include the Mayor, the Controller, the President of the Board of Aldermen, and the Presidents of the five boroughs. Whenever a question comes to a vote the Mayor shall have three votes, the Controller three votes, the President of the Board of Aldermen three votes; the Presidents of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn two votes, and the Presidents of the Boroughs of Bronx, Queens, and Richmond one vote each, making in all sixteen votes. No official appointed by the Mayor will have a voice or vote in the proceedings of the board.
After a long contest it is said that the final determination of the commission is to continue the term of office for the Mayor at four years. He is to be ineligible to re-election.
The present Municipal Assembly will be abolished if the recommendations of the commission are accepted. Instead of the dual legislative body there will be a Board of Aldermen, consisting of sixty members. The members of this board will be elected at large, that is, he will be elected by a vote of all the citizens of the city, in the same manner as the Mayor. He will also be eligible to fill the office of Mayor in case of the removal by death or otherwise of the head of the city Government.
An added power will be given to the Mayor. He will have complete control of all his subordinates and may remove any of them at will during his term of office, instead of during the first six months of his term, as under the present charter.
A revolution is planned in the Police Department, if the revision suggestions are adopted. It is suggested that the police be placed under the control of a Police Commissioner whose salary shall be $10,000 a year. The increase in the salary is made, so declares one of the Commissioners, to secure a man of the highest ability for the place. The Bureau of Elections will be separated from the Police Department entirely. The Chief of the Police, according to the proposed law, can be removed by the votes of the Police Commissioner and the Mayor. The bi-partisan idea for the Bureau of Elections has been recommended.
The Department of Education has presented one of the most difficult problems for the revisionists. The final conclusion is to recommend to the Legislature the abolition of the Borough Boards of the Department of Education and the formation of a compact central board, consisting of forty-six members. Of this number Manhattan and the Bronx are to have twenty-two, Brooklyn fourteen, and Queens and Richmond five each.
According to the statements made by men who have been asked for advice, the Davis salary law will be repealed if the recommendations of the Charter Revision Commission are adopted. The provision for a tax of 4 mills on each $100 of property valuation for the salaries of school teachers will also be annulled. It is said that the provision for the regulation of school teachers' salaries provides that the Central Board of Education, with the approval of the Board of Estimate, shall, before July 1, 1901, adopt a new salary schedule, otherwise the salaries of all teachers are to be fixed at the figures which prevailed before Dec. 31, 1809, or before the Davis law took effect. The teachers would, therefore, receive the salaries fixed by the Ahearn law.
It is also proposed to divide the city into forty-six school districts on a basis of school population. The Central Board will elect the Superintendent of Schools and also fifteen District Superintendents.
One of the most radical changes in the charter which is said the revisionists will propose is to abolish several of the boards which now have charge of large departments. For instance, the Department of Charities is to be controlled by one Commissioner instead of a board of three Commissioners, as at present. There will be deputies, in each borough, under the control of the Commissioner. The Department of Parks will also be placed under the control of one Commissioner.
The Department of Corrections will be under the charge of a single Commissioner, without any deputies in the boroughs.
One of the most radical provisions in the amended charter may result in a charge in the hospital system of the city. All the emergency hospitals under the city's control will be placed in charge of a commission of seven physicians, who will serve without pay. These hospitals are all now under the control of the Department of Charities.
What will happen to the mass of suggestions made by the Charter Revision Commission when the legislature meets is problematical. Senator Thomas C. Platt has within the past few days stated that a good many of its recommendations would not be adopted by the Legislature.