The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1860-01-12

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r uual valuations are the variable elements
3 Of the Grand List. The oqualized val.
uotion once made remains unchanged
b until the next valuation year. Tho
s first Grand List after equalization OK
( hibits the aggregate subject to contri-
g button; and the Grand Lists of subse.
quent years until a new valuation, will
- otcourse exhibit the same aggregate, i'm
5 creased or diminished only by tho in
crease or diminution Of the annual val
b uatiOns. The Grand List of no wear
except Immediately after q general val
uahon, or in consequence Of some log
isIatiye action, the results of which the
Legislature must Of course forcsoc, can
differ widely from that Of tho preceding
year.
The General Assembly convened ia
any year, has therefore always at hand
the means Of asccrtaining, with substan-
tal accuracy, tho revenues Of that and
the next fiscal year. Lovies already
made on the Grand List Of the preco.
ding year will produce the former, and
leyies on the grand list of The current
year at rates fixed or sanctioned by the
Legislature itself will produce tho lat
ter. With q given basis and given rates
It IS easy to compute revenue.
with these observations it seems
proper to submit to you a suggestion
more than once addressed to your pre-
decessors:-that it is indispensable to
every sound financial system that ap-
preparations be limited by revenues,
and anld expenditures by appropriations
| The arrangements which have some
times embarrassed our finances may
| be traced, almost invariably, in
| the absence Of crime, to a disregard Of
this salutary principle. Nothing but
an overruIing emergency can justify
appropriations beyond revenue, or ex-
peDditures beyond appropriations
! When so justified, the appropriations
IN the former case should be prompt
y provided for by taxation, and the
expenditures in the latter case should
be as promptly reported to the Legis-
lature for its Judgment and sanction.
l embrace this occasion to suggest
the expediency Of requiring, under
suitable penalties for omission, all Off
GERS having charge Of works or institu-
tions, to state distinctly, in connection
with each annual report, whether any
debts, beyond appropriations, were out
standing at the close of the year, and,
It any, their precise nature and amount
For all such debts the officers contract
ing them are under existing laws, per
sonally responsible, and their payment
without express legislative sanction, out
OF any subsequent appropriation, should
be strictly prohibited.
In this connection I also renew nv
! recommendation of an appropriation
for each year Of a sum sufficient to pro-
vide against unforeseen emergencies.
subject only to the warrants of the
Governor to be drawn on satisfactory
evidence Of necessities unexpectedly
requiring extraordinary expenditures.
The public welfare would likewise be
promoted, in my judgment, if the sew
eral officers of the Executive Depart
mont we're organized as an Executive
Council, and required to meet from time
to time, and whenever convoked by tho
Governor, for consultation and action
in regard to public interests. The sane
ton of such a Council to the drafts on
the contingent appropriation just pro-
posed, would constitute an ample guar
anty against improvidence and abuse.
The whole amount of receipts into
the Treasury during the last year was
$500, 1914, and the balance from tho
preceding year was $780, The to-
tai sum subject to disbursementin in 1859,
was S3,746,272.
OF this sum 500 600 was realized from
drafts in anticipation of the revenue Of
1860; 81, 939, ,733 we're received from le-
vics, on the Grand List of 1858, Of one
mill and a half on the dollar for Com.
mon Schools; one-tenth Of a mill for
School Libraries; niue.tenths for Sink
ing Fund; seven. twentieths for rcin.
bursement of Temporary Loan; and
seven-tenths for general expenses Of
State Government. These levies, amount
ing in the aggregate to three mills and
eleven-twentieths on the dollar, assess.
ed upon the taxable valuation Of $780,
80O.O31, exhibited by the Grand List of
1858, would have produced, il fully
collected, 2,984, $40. The difference
between this sum and the revenue ac-
tually received-about forty five thous-
and dollars-is attributable TO costs of
collection, variations between delin.
quencies unpaid and delinquencies col
lected, and errors in assessment
The principal sources of revcnuo,
other than levies, are Tolls and Water
rents on the Public Works; collections
Of Surplus Revenue; Proceeds of sales
of lands; Convict labor; and Canal,
Turnpike and Railroad Dividends. Of
receipts from these and other sources
besides levies, some, classed as revenue,
cannot properly be considered SUCH
Proceeds Of over-work Of conviots, for
example, and collections on old claims,
aud advances from contingent funds OF
Executive Officers are not properly rev
enuo but either simple deposits, or
means made money, or mere transfers
from one account 20 another. It IS 10
be observed, moreover, that more than
the whole realized from nll sources, exc
oept lovies, is either absorbed by the
expenses of the Public Works, and tho
pcnifonfinrv or rnoeffen1Iv nnnror,rfr