THE CHALLENGE TO OUR LARGE CITIES

America's largest cities have been the hub around which our national economy has grown. The last quarter of the twentieth century has presented challenges seriously affecting the financial structure of many the largest cities. Landmark changes in society and culture, the disappearance of labor intensive manufacturing jobs and the flight of the middle class homeowner to the suburbs seeking better schools, less crime and lower property taxes are demanding new solutions to the vital problem of reviving the urban cities of the United States.

The same problems affect Baltimore. The City is facing a continuing population loss, continuing public safety problems, poorly performing schools, and a devastatingly high property tax rate. There is dwindling confidence in the efficiency of City government and doubt as to whether progress in public education and public safety can reach a point that will be sufficient to attract homeowners back to the real attractions and benefits of city living.

What is needed is an idea whose time has come - again!


THE IDEA

This is the story of the remarkable Baltimore Commission on Governmental Efficiency and Economy and its contribution to the City's economic growth and fiscal stability from 1923 to 1975.

47 years of independent, non-political, non-partisan guidance were provided City Administrations and citizens by a progression of the leading business leaders through this remarkable organization.

It started with an idea given to a Baltimore Sun reporter in April, 1923. A leading businessman, banker William J. Casey, was asked what he would do if he were mayor. He replied that he would call on twenty-five of the largest city taxpayers to send their experts to the City Hall to examine operations and see how they could be improved. The winning candidate in the upcoming mayoralty election, Howard W. Jackson, took Casey up on his idea.


AN IDEA BECOMES REALITY

The Mayor invited the business community to form a group to study city government, finances and municipal management. The original "response team" included accountants, lawyers, engineers and other specialists, professionals who volunteered or were loaned by business firms.


ONE HUNDRED EXPERTS MOVED TO CITY HALL

They tackled the job with enthusiasm and without pay. In one year they had almost reinvented City government!

A national magazine wrote, "For the first time in American history in an American city, taxpayers, at their own expense, investigated the administration of their tax money, found out what was wrong, and changed the whole system. In one year that group of businessmen cut City taxes by 13%."

Not only that, but they had, among other achievements, organized a complete central payroll system, a Central Bureau of Receipts, and a disbursement system and formed a Department of Public Works, an independent Bureau of Audit, a Central Purchasing System, the first complete inventory of City assets, and an actuarially-based employees retirement system - and all this as a contribution, with no cost to the City Government.

Although the major contributions in the four years of Mayor Jackson's term were many, a new administration disliked the involvement of an outside group reporting on City business, and the quasi-official Commission was dissolved.

Fortunately, however, Mr. Casey's enthusiasm for the idea persisted, and the volunteers of 1923/1927 officially incorporated as the Commission of Governmental Efficiency and Economy, Inc., and in 1928, resumed their activities independent of any official link to City Government. The Chamber of Commerce and Real Estate Board gave major support. Both at the start and for the next 40 years, members of the Commission constituted a "who's who" of the most distinguished businessmen in Baltimore City.

There is not a prominent name in the business leadership of those times that, at one point, did not serve on the Commission for Governmental Efficiency and Economy. Decker, Meyerhoff, Hutzler, Jeffery, Rouse, Levi, Marbury, and Riggs are just a few of the long list of distinguished leaders who lent their talent to the Commission.

The Commission consisted of a Board of twenty-five members. Tenure for the members and officers was limited to three years.

Since it was well removed from any political allegiance to any candidate or party, the Commission's recommendations were seriously considered, and at election time, newspapers published the Commission's stand on the major issues they had studied.

A twenty year report published in 1943 stated, "Year in and year out, collection of data and the making of field observations went on as the operations of the departments of local government are followed while programs of specific studies are scheduled at least a year in advance."


A REMARKABLE RECORD

The record of the Commission on Government Efficiency and Economy is truly remarkable. In the 1960s, among the 1,329 detailed major studies completed and publicly reported were those on City budgets, City debt, City property, the Courts, the election system, highways, jails, the library, museums, pension system, personnel, planning & zoning, police, fire, public works, purchasing, recreation & parks, schools, welfare, state/city cooperation, improvements and savings in marketing municipal bond issues and many more. Cities throughout the U.S. contacted the Baltimore Commission to find how they could set up similar organizations.


ONE VOICE

The Commission spoke with one voice; its members never spoke individually. After a study was completed, it was released and distributed to the City Administration and to the public. So respected was the Commission's work, that on one occasion, an irate City Council threatened to cut the appropriation for the Chamber of Commerce because the Chamber supported findings of the Commission. The Baltimore Sun reported that, if this occurred, the newspaper would make up the difference.

The E & E Commission maintained an extensive library on urban affairs which was open to the public.


THE BATON OF PRIVATE SECTOR LEADERSHIP WAS PASSED

By 1970, the growth and revival of Baltimore City's aging infrastructure had become the major objective of both the public and private sector. The Greater Baltimore Committee was formed to become the primary energizing force in the private sector giving Baltimore's renaissance its dramatic start.

The E & E Commission moved somewhat to the background. D. Benton Biser, its long time, highly effective executive director retired. The Commission continued to produce impressive work. The Board was reduced to eight members.

The baton had passed to the City Administration and various private organizations promoting growth and revitalization. In 1975, the Board of Trustees voted to disband the Commission on Governmental Efficiency.

However, despite the revitalization of downtown, the problems of the City and its neighborhoods remained. The school system has continued to lose ground, public safety concerns abound and property tax rates have dwarfed rates in neighboring jurisdictions - all with a catalytic effect on population loss. City operating budgets continue to grow as population declines dramatically.

In hindsight, the Commission's role was never filled. It had studied and understood city government structure as no other outside organization has done, and the public has been without the benefit of that understanding for a quarter-century. One of its last major efforts was to recommend, in 1973, a study of the financial needs and inter-related interests of the City and five surrounding counties and of regional cooperation and revenue sharing - ideas that have returned to focus and are the subject of renewed debate today.


A GOOD IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME - AGAIN!

Now is the time to bring back that good idea that proved so valuable for so many years.

The Baltimore Homeowners' Coalition is an organization that has, for the past decade, spoken for City homeowners and community associations, fighting for tax relief and incentives to bring middle class families back to the City. The Coalition has challenged budget excesses and City inefficiencies. Members of the Coalition have incorporated the Baltimore Efficiency and Economy Foundation and has funded its start-up from contributions by individuals, businesses, foundations and other public sources.

The Foundation's overall mission is to engage concerned residents to seek innovative solutions to the challenges facing Baltimore City. It will attempt to slow urban flight by improving the cost effectiveness of City government so that the public services needed to attract new homeowners and businesses may be provided. It will also evaluate and encourage regional solutions to Baltimore's economic problems.

The Foundation will sponsor expert guest speakers and organize conferences to bring together urban management experts, government officials and the public to discuss redesigning tax policies and the ways in which government can better function in today's climate. In addition to its newsletter and local publications, its web-site will include information about ongoing research and other activities. The Foundation hopes to renew the creative work of the Commission - reborn after a quarter-century.