The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1920-01-16


lions. which, Of course. were very
much more favorable than those which
prevailed during the war. yet at the
end of the two years period there
was an unexpended balance In every
department Of the government save
one. That the government created un.
der the civil administrative code func.
toned well is best shown by the fact
that we went through the entire period
Of the war without any extraordinary
session Of the general assembly.
Among the departments created was
the department Of finance. The head
Of that department exercises general
supervision over the finances of the
state. He provides Uniform system
Of bookkeeping; he approves or dis
approves of all vouchers he Is In con.
slant touch with the financial affairs
Of the state. In addition, II is his duty
TO prepare budget Of estimated ex-
penditures and receipts. to be sub,
United to each regular session of the
general assembly. In the exercise Of
his general supervision over the ex-
penditures of the state. he. IN effect,
begins the preparation of the budget
a bienniumo In advance. That Is. on the
fst Of July, 1917. In approving or dis
approving vouchers and investigating
financial conditions. he was gather
ng information all the while to en-
able him intelligently to Judge what
the appropriations should be for the
next biennium. Our last general assem-
bly, met In January Of last year. The
director of finance had budget pre-
pared for the general assembly when
It met. That budget was submitted to
me and by me, In turn, transmitted to
the general assembly. The old way
was for each official who expended
public money to make an estimate of
what he desired and to submit that
direct to the general assembly, with
out revision by anyone. He always
asked for what he needed, and usually
for more. and therefore the legislature,
no matter how earnestly 1t tried to
meet its duty, had to guess at the
amount of appropriations. All this is
changed In the budget submitted by
the director Of finance. He had, In the
first place, the information that he
had acquired as to the needs Of the
various activities Of the state In the
exercise of his power of general super
vision over the finances, and in addi-
tion he had been able to investigate,
himself, when q request was made by
any official charged with the expendi-
ture Of money, as to the exact needs
Of the case The budget thus submitted
went before the appropriations COM
mittees of the house and the senate,
and with very few changes was en-.
acted into law.
The revenues of. the state are de-
rived from indirect sources, such as
fees for various services rendered by
the state, tax upon gross premiums
of insurance companies. tax upon
the gross revenues of the Illinois Cen
trail Railroad company, a franchise tax
upon corporations, Inheritance taxes,
etc., and general property tax. The
last named tax IS levied at such rate
as to raise revenue sufficient, together
with the indirect revenue, to defray
the expenses of the state government.
The general property tax rate for
state purposes in 1917 was 90 cents
on the hundred dollars. In 1918, we
were able to reduce this from 90 to
rs cents on the hundred dollars. In
1919 the basis OF taxation was
changed from one-third to one-half OF
the actual cash value. The rate for
that year was fixed at 40 cents on the
hundred dollars. which would be
equivalent to GO cents under the old
basis--a reduction Of 20 per- cent as
compared with the tax rate Of the
preceding year. These reductions were
due partly TO an increase In Indirect
revenues, but largely to greater econ.
Omy under the civil administrative
code with the budgetary system.