The department of assessment and taxation, which makes the assessment rolls, consists of four assessors, elected two at a time, for four years each.
The department of law is presided over by a corporation counsel, appointed by the mayor. The mayor also appoints the city engineer and the heads of the following departments:
The department of public works, which controls the water-supply, streets, sewers, buildings, and public markets; the department of public safety, which includes the bureaus of gas and electricity; departments of police, health, charities and correction, and the board of education.
Cities of the third class are not uniform in their government, but the general outline is the same as for cities of the second class.
City Elections are held in the odd-numbered years. State officials are elected in the even-numbered years. The purpose of setting a different time for these elections is to keep city politics independent of State political machines. Party issues have little to do with the problems of a city. It is evident that the government of a large city is a very important and complicated business. There are several offices which demand as great executive ability as would be required of a man at the head of a large business corporation. But city offices are usually given to men not for fitness, but because of party affiliation. Public sentiment is beginning to ask why high standards of competence and efficiency should not be as much demanded in public as in private business.
The Budget: The heads of the various departments decide how much money will be required to run each department for the ensuing year. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment considers these requests and fixes the tax-rate necessary to raise the money needed (see Chapters [IV] and [XI]).
Franchise Rights: A city has many sources of revenue of its own. Public utilities which furnish such necessities as transportation, water, gas, and electric light, earn enormous profits. In some places some of these things are owned by the city and the revenues go to the city. In others, the right to build and operate such a public business is given to a private corporation through a franchise. It is evident that these franchise rights are extremely valuable and should not be given away without adequate compensation to the city, as well as the insuring of good service. The rates that are charged, and the service rendered, are matters of vast importance to the people of a city. Municipal ownership of such utilities has never been as extensive in this country as abroad, but the sentiment in favor of it is growing. Franchise rights used to be given for long terms, even in perpetuity, but public sentiment now demands that they be subject to revision at reasonable intervals. Most cities to-day own their own water-supply, and some of them have their own lighting plants.
Commission Form of Government: So many officials are needed to manage the complex affairs of a city that even if well qualified men are put up for office, with so many candidates to be elected, it is impossible for the voters to know the merit of them all. City government has been the weakest spot in our political life. In an effort to meet its defects, a number of cities have adopted the policy of doing away entirely with the form of government as outlined, and electing on a non-partisan ticket several commissioners (sometimes headed by a mayor), each one of whom is put in charge of a division of the city’s administration, and made responsible for the work of this department.
The fact is being recognized that skill and expert training are needed in public officials; that the power should be given to a few men, and that they should be held responsible for the success of their work.
Buffalo now has a commission form of government.