An important event for the city was the passage in May, by the Legislature, of the "Single Head" bill, by the provisions of which the system of triple heads of departments was abolished, and complete appointive power and responsibility vested in the Mayor. This radical step toward municipal reform and good government was one which could not fail to attract the attention of the country, since Brooklyn was the first great city to take it, and the experiment was watched with the liveliest interest by all students of municipal government. John Fiske, in his admirable work on "Civil Government," thus succinctly describes the new system of city government: "Besides the council of [nineteen] Aldermen, the people elect only three city officers,--the Mayor, comptroller, and auditor. The comptroller is the principal finance officer and book-keeper of the city; and the auditor must approve bills against the city, whether great or small, before they can be paid. The Mayor appoints, without confirmation by the council, all executive heads of departments; and these executive heads are individuals, not boards. Thus there is a single police commissioner, a single fire commissioner, a single health commissioner, and so on; and each of these heads appoints his own subordinates; 'so that the principle of defined responsibility permeates the city government from top to bottom.'[40] In a few cases where the work to be done is rather discretionary than executive in character, it is intrusted to a board; thus, there is a board of assessors, a board of education, and a board of elections. These are all appointed by the Mayor, but for terms not coincident with his own; 'so that, in most cases, no Mayor would appoint the whole of any such board unless he were to be twice elected by the people.' But the executive officers are appointed by the Mayor for terms coincident with his own, that is, for two years. 'The Mayor is elected at the general election in November; he takes office on the first of January following, and for one month the great departments of the city are carried on for him by the appointees of his predecessor. On the first of January it becomes his duty to appoint his own heads of departments,' and thus 'each incoming Mayor has the opportunity to make an administration in all its parts in sympathy with himself.' "With all these immense executive powers intrusted to the Mayor, however, he does not hold the purse-strings. He is a member of a board of estimates, of which the other four members are the comptroller and auditor, with the county treasurer and supervisor. This board recommends the amount to be raised by taxation for the ensuing year. These estimates are then laid before the council of Aldermen, who may cut down single items as they see fit, but have not the power to increase any item. The Mayor must see to it that the administrative work of the year does not use up more money than is thus allowed to him."[41]