Year: 1914
Summary: Recommendations for civil service appointments based on merit, record, and classification/standardization of positions.
Summary: Efficient processes for salary cheques saves the time of the City Treasurer and City Auditor, as made evident by the reduction in countersigned cheques from 1913 to 1914.
Summary: Presents a tentative scheme for central control of labor supply, unemployment, and immigration, with suggestions for: administration, legislation, fees and costs, methods and procedures, and interdepartmental co-operation.
Summary: A deputation of Toronto city officials was sent to examine accounting departments in New York, NY and Reading, PA. Outlines necessary steps in the reorganization of Toronto's accounting systems.
Summary: Presents a potential Fire Insurance Policy for the citizens of Toronto.
Summary: Outlines the key issues for the Municipal Improvement Association for 1915, including: the financial system, civil service commission, fire department, purchasing department, and transportation commission.
Year: 1915
Summary: Introduction of City Accounting by the City Auditor and the Commissioner of Works, and recommendations from the report.
Summary: Summarizes progress in three major areas of concern: unemployment relief, fire department reorganization, and accounting and budget reform.
Summary: Lists essential qualifications for the head of a Fire Department, based on merit and administrative skills.
Year: 1916
Summary: This publication highlights the need for an independent citizen research bureau (such as the Bureau of Municipal Research) to inform fellow citizens and to keep municipal government accountable when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars. Additionally, the Bureau outlines some of their near and long-term goals in improving and modernizing city administration and planning.
Summary: A summary of city of Toronto budget expenditures for 1915 with estimates for the 1916 budget - includes information on expenditures, city revenue and debt, and includes a breakdown of average taxes paid by Toronto citizens. The publication aims to encourage taxpayer and citizen engagement with budgetary concerns, and attempts to educate the reader on how departments estimate their costs from year to year.
Summary: Summary of recommendations on school accounting made by the City Auditor.
Summary: Suggests possible steps to increase efficiency in Toronto's metropolitan government, including: reducing the number of members of City Council, abolishing the ward system, and establishing an administrative board to centre executive responsibility.
Year: 1917
Summary: A summary of city of Toronto budget expenditures for 1916 with estimates for the 1917 budget - includes information on expenditures, city revenue and debt, and includes a breakdown of average taxes paid by Toronto citizens. The publication aims to encourage taxpayer and citizen engagement with budgetary concerns.
Summary: If city reports of actual and proposed expenditures presented the annual bills as divided by totals, departments, and functional divisions, it would enable fact studies of the civic service and the city's annual bill for salaries and wages. Advocates procedural reform for salary increases and promotions.
Summary: The city-wide need for welfare cannot be determined by adding up the needs of various individual agencies; a cooperative approach is needed to maximize effective expenditure of philanthropic funds.
Year: 1918
Summary: Citizens are encouraged to write suggestions regarding civic services on attached cards, and submit them to the Bureau of Municipal Research for investigation.
Summary: Four conditions for municipal financial difficulties: overestimating revenue; underestimating expenditures; charging to capital account what should be paid from current revenues; and operating revenue producing departments at a loss.
Year: 1919
Summary: An outline of the Bureau of Municipal Research's mandate, mission statement, list of publications, long-term goals, and accolades from publication subscribers.
Summary: Comments from various North American cities on the service-at-cost plan for Street Railways. Asks questions about how the Railway should be administered in Toronto.
Summary: Summary of the organization, function, activities, revenue and expenditures of the Toronto Parks Department.
Summary: Defines commission government, its history, advantages and limitations.
Summary: Defines commission-manager (or city-manager) government, its advantages and limitations.
Summary: Summary of the organization, function, activities, revenue and expenditures of the Toronto Public Health Department. Special consideration is given to the issue of infant mortality/child welfare.
Summary: Defines mayor-council-board of control government, its advantages and limitations. Suggests modifications including an Administrative Board.
Summary: Summary of the organization, powers, activities, expenditures, and revenue of the Toronto Police Department. Includes a description of the administration of justice.
Summary: Presents several comparisons which illustrate some of the gains made in methods of financial administration in Toronto from 1914-1918.
Year: 1920
Summary: A survey of "educational waste" - the strain on school social and financial resources attributed to children with intellectual disabilities, children who start school at a later age, and children who do not complete their education
Summary: Outlines the qualifications, duties, and powers of a Finance Commissioner, in response to the pending appointment of a new commissioner.