The author has reviewed the rise in the expense budget of New York City from the early 1960's to the early 1970's, concentrating on the expenditures for human resources development (education, health, welfare, and family back-up services) which account for about 70 percent of the total. One reason for rising expenses has been the expansion of human resources services provided--increased workloads in medical care for the indigent, public assistant grants, mental health clinics, and higher education. Another critical factor has been inflation. Reasons found for increased expenditures in higher education, medical care for the indigent, and mental health clinics were: (1) steep increases in employee wages and benefits exceeding those earned by workers in other sectors of the economy; (2) increased personnel, providing both more client service and improved working conditions and more released time to employees; (3) occupational upgrading by the addition of better-trained persons replacing less well-trained employees. The author concludes, "There are presently no data available to indicate how good New York City's programs are or whether they are getting better or worse over time." For the future, reporting systems need to be developed and implemented in local service agencies that will identify workable reforms. (EA)