Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1860-01-17
NUMBER 3

tions in levies and appropriations.
The fundamental principle of our rev
enue system, that all property not ex.
empted upon overruling considerations OF
policy, shall contribute to necessary pub
lie expenses in just proportion to value,
is now firmly established in the convis.
tions of the people, and nothing Is more
certain, than that they win insist on it
uniform and universal applieation. e
there be any description Of property
which has hitherto escaped just contri-
button, the Legislature representing the
people will not hesitate to subject Il to
the operation of the general principle
1t is great merit of the system that
it is easily understood, and that the re-.
suit of any given rate Of assessment can~
not materially deceive expectation. AZ
the Grand List supplies the basis ofrey-
enue, and as the necessary means to meet
all State, County and municipal expen4
ses are provided by assessments for State
purposes on the entire list and for locsf
purposes on the property listed within
the respective localities, legislative adj.
justment of levies to the public needs,
and of appropriations to levies, can never
be difficult. The rates of levy being
fixed, the revenue for the years interye-
ming between general valuations can al
ways be predicted with reasonable cer-
tainty. The equalized valuation Is the
permanent, and the annual valuations are
the variable elements of the Grand List
The equalized valuation once made re-
mains unchanged until the next valua-
ton year. The first Grand List after
equalization exhibits the aggregate SUBJ
ject to contribution; and the Grand Lists
of subsequent years until q new valuation,
will, of course, exhibit the same aggre-
gate, increased or diminished only by
the increase or diminution Of the annual
valuations. The Grand List of no year
except Immediately after a general valu-s
alton, or in consequence of some legisla-
tive action, the results of which the Legs
islature must of course foresee, can diff
fer widely from that of the preceding
year.
The General Assembly convened In
any year, has, therefore, always at hand
the means Of ascertaining, with substan-
tial accuracy, the revenues of that and
the next fiscal year. Levies already
made on the Grand List of the preceding
year will produce the former, and leviea
on the grand list of the current year Of
rates fixed or sanctioned by the ,Legisla-
tuFe itself will produce the latter With
a given basis and given rates it iseasy to
compute revenue.
With these observations itseems proper
to submit to youa suggestion more than
once addressed to your predecessor
that it is indispensable to every sound
financial system that appropriations be
limited by revenues, and expenditures
by appropriations. The derangements
which have sometimes embarrassed our
finances may be traced, almostinyariably,
in the absence of crime, to disregard of
this salutary principle. Nothing but an
overruling emergency can justify appro-
priations beyond revenue, or expendi-
lures beyond appropriations. When 50
justified, the appropriation in the former
case should be promptly provided for by
taxation, and the expenditures in the
latter case should be as promptly repor-
ted to the Legislature for its judgment
and sanction.
embrace this occasion to suggest the
expediency of requiring, UNDER suitable
penalties for omission, all officers having
charge of works or institutions, to state
distinctly, in connection with each an
nual report. whether any debts, beyond
appropriations, were outstanding at the
close of the year, and, if any, their pre-
else nature and amount For all such
debts the officers contracting them are,
under existing laws, personally RESPONSE
Bile, and their payment, without express
legislative sanction, out Of any subsee
quent appropriation, should be. strictly
prohibited.
In this connection also renew my re-
commentator of an appropriation for
each year of sum sufficient to provide
against unforeseen emergencies, subject
only to the warrants of the Governor, to
be drawn on satisfactory evidence Of me-
cessities unexpectedly requiring extraor-
dinary expenditures.
| The public welfare would likewise be
promoted, in n y judgment, if the several
officers of the Executive Department were
organized as an Executive Council, and
required to meet from time to time, and
whenever convoked by the Governor, for
consultation and action in regard to pub
| lie interests. The sanction of such q
Council to the drafts on the contingent
appropriation just proposed, would con-
Istitute an ample guaranty against im-
providence and abuse.
The whole amount Of receipts into the
Treasury during the last year was So
1870, ,l54, and the balance from the pre-.
lceeding year was S226, 118. The total
fsum subject to Disbursements 1853, was
I$3, ,746,2
OF this sum $22 200 was realized from
drafts in anticipation of the revenue Of
l1860, $780, 9,733 were received from
/ levies, on the Grand List of 1858, of one
mill and half on the dollar for Com
mon Schools; one-tenth of mill for
School Libraries; nine -tenths for Sinking
Fund; seven-twentieths for reimburse.
ment Of Temporary Loan; and seven-
tenths for general expenses of State Gov,
iernment. These leyies, amounting in
the aggregate to three mills and eleven
twentieths on the dollar, assessed upon
the taxable valuation Of S840, 800, OBJ,
Exhibited by the Grand List of 1865,
! would have produced, if fully collected,
i 81, ,0S4, $40. The difference between this
!. sum and the revenue actually received
about forty-fve thousand dollars--is at,
/ tributable tocosts of collection, variation.
between delinquencies unpaid and de
linquencies collected, and errors in nassess
! ment.
:, The principal sources of revenue, othel
than levies, are Tolls and Water-rents OF
the Public Works; collections Of Surplus
/, Rovenue; Proceeds of sales Of lands; Con