Mayor John F. Collins of Boston charged last night that there is "apparently corruption in the Boston police force," and that it exists because "the only control the mayor has over employees of the police department is the dubious pleasure of paying their salaries."

Collins said that Gov. Volpe, who appoints the Boston police commissioner, did not invite the mayor to a meeting yesterday afternoon where "Biography of a Bookie Joint," a CBS film exposing corruption in the Boston police force, was discussed.

"The mayor of Boston is a vassal of the legislature and the victim of a feudal tax structure," Collins declared at a forum sponsored by the Joint Center on Urban Studies, where five "new mayors" attempted to explain where they find the power to govern.

"If the mayor of Boston is to be held responsible for the city's fiscal and financial well-being," Collins declared, "he must be given more authority by the State legislature."

Mayor Ben West of Nashville, Tenn., supported Collins' contention that "the mayor must go to the State legislature to get the power to govern." He stressed that if American cities are to survive, "they must be allowed sources of revenue besides property taxes."

West defined the "new mayors" as a group of politicians who exist "without any big-time political machine support."

"Cities are in crisis all over the nation, and the survival of urban civilization itself is at stake," New Haven's Mayor Richard C. Lee, a leader in urban redevelopment, told the audience.

All five mayors noted that it is difficult to convince their citizens that tax increases are necessary for progress. But Mayor Raymond Tucker of St. Louis, Mo., claimed that he obtained three tax increases in six months from the voters of St. Louis "by telling them the truth."