Milford chronicle., 1959-12-04
Deficit OF 500, 100000
Seen In State By 1865
CONTINUED from page onel


gar F. Funce, Jr., economist, and
Isaacson, Stolper & Company, cer-
titled public accountants.
It will be considered by the
Joint Revenue Committee at its
meeting Wednesday at p. m. at
Dover.
The barrel of figures that went
into the study has been distilled
into a single table, giving the
estimated total receipts and .ex-
penditures of the state and the
indicated annual deficit Cor sur
plus) for each year from fiscal
1859 to fiscal 1865. Only the first
of these years y the one which
ended last June 80 = shows sur
plus, and the amount was 5000, 900.
For the present fiscal year, the
study shows estimated receipts
of S74 100000 and estimated ex-
penditures of 8,500,000 for an
indicated deficit of $4,5OO,OOO for
next years operations For the
next fiscal year lending June 80,
1861 the receipts are estimated at
$77, 100000 and expenditures at
$87, 100000. The difference is the
indicated one-year deficit of $1O,-
100000.
This gets larger each year as
the estimated expenditures grow
faster than the estimated revenue
For the year ending June 80, 1862,
the forefathers see expenditures of
$95, 100000 with receipts of $751;
100000, leaving a deficit of $14,-
100000. The next year the deficit
is figured at $18,800,000. Then in
fiscal 1864 it jumps to $22,90O,O 900
and hits $28,000,000 for fiscal 1865.
In the first of their five sec
tions, DR.. Bunce and the account
ants commented on the reason for
the study. They said: "The his
tory of the fiscal trends of the
general fund of the state of Del
aware for the last IL years clearly
indicates that the budgetary crises
that have arisen from time to time
have been solved either by for
tuitous circumstances or by tenn
porary experience. The post war
history further suggests that part
of the present fiscal problem stems
from fiscal management which per-
mitted an unusually rapid rise in
debt to occur, the adverse feature
of which is only currently being
felt".
Turning to the method used in the
study, DR.. Bunce and the account
ants explained that each of the
broad categories of state expendi-
lures and present revenue sources
were examined to determine why
the amounts have changed over
the years.
After those two brief sections,
the report jumps into lengthy
discussion of expenditures, start
ing with review that notes state
expenditures increased 345 per
cent from 1947 to 1859, mounting
from SIS, 100000 to 69,5O0,OOO. The
three main reasons, the report says,
are imitation, growth in population
and extension of services.
Analyzing the effects of infia-
tion, DR.. Bunce and the account
ants said that imitation alone could
well have doubled state expendi-
lures from 1947 to 1859. They said
'.it is not unreasonable to expect
salary rates of De1aware's public
employees to advance by at least
2 per cent year compounded and
more probably by at least 8 per
cent.
Turning to an analysis of the
extent of population growth, the
authors of the report stated that
since 1850 Delaware population has
been increasing 4.6 pei cent a year.
In the seven-year period from 1850
to 1857 the Delaware population in
the 5 to II year age group has in
creased 81 per cent in contrast to
an increase of % per cent for the
Is to 81 year age group. The re-
port gives statistics for births,
birth rates, deaths and death rates.
1t points out that the excess of
births over deaths has been runn-
ing close to 5000 per year and that
estimated immigration amounts to
10000 to $4,000 year, indicat-
ing a population growth of 10000
to $4,000 per year. This amounts
to AZ to So per cent per year in