Transmitted to the Legislature January 5, 1927 [Vol. 36] GOVERNOR'S ANNUAL MESSAGE (Transmitted to the Legislature January 5, 1927) To the Legislature: Our State enters upon the new chapter in its history, the year 1927, with all the advantages of a carefully prepared program for such an administration of its affairs as will enable it to serve the best interests of all of our people. The last twenty years have witnessed the greatest material progress in the history of the world. During that period the ingenuity of man has been brought into full play and a decided advance may be noted on every hand. Government should keep abreast of every other material development. We owe it to our State to keep it in the very front line of the commonwealths of the country. In six years of my own service as Chief Executive, I have constantly held that ideal before me and we now face the test of a continuing policy which has produced far-reaching administrative changes and a long-time program for the expansion and conduct of the public works of the State. It is not sufficient, nor is it possible, to rest here. The State is a living force. This very program is now an outer form, an instrument, a tool with which to make our government more responsive to the public will and more efficient in the conduct of its affairs. The real test of its effectiveness will not be the perfection of its functioning alone. No enterprise is great just because it is well-organized. Government must be more than a machine for performing a routine. It must have the ability to clothe itself with human understanding of the daily, living needs of those whom it is created to serve. Primarily my in [Vol. 36] Transmitted to the Legislature January 5, 1927 terest is in effecting that combination of the improved functioning of the instrumentalities of the State government which will never lose sight of the inner meaning of democratic government. The reorganized government must be able to safeguard the health, living, working and business conditions of all the people, and to care adequately for the unfortunates who cannot care for themselves. Not an iota of progress can be sacrificed and the State must continue to go forward to new attainment where that is needed. The newly reorganized government should not become a mere rearrangement and consolidation but a great business operating openly, smoothly and responsibly, to produce at minimum cost and with reasonable dispatch the things and the results the people have voted and are paying for. Security of democratic government rests upon the ability of the chosen representatives of the people to translate the public will into action. Whatever there may have been of cross currents in public opinion during the heat of a political campaign, after the people have made their decision we should all join hands, irrespective of our political disagreements, in an effort to give to the State the very best of which we are capable. In this message I shall deal briefly with the present condition of the State, making recommendations for future improvements and from time to time during the session I shall communicate with you in greater detail concerning various activities of the State. FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE STATE In compliance with the Constitution, I present by this message to your Honorable Bodies the present financial condition of the State in simple language in the hope that it will be read and understood by all of our people. Transmitted to the Legislature January 5, 1927 [Vol. 36] The State does not use the calendar year for the management of its fiscal affairs but takes the year as beginning July first and ending on the thirtieth of June following. On June 30, 1926, the State of New York owed to its bondholders..... $316,825,000 00 To meet that indebtedness the State had in its various funds........ 94,959,357 44 These various funds will have annual contributions made to them sufficient to pay the entire obligation as the different bonds become due. To pay the expense of running the State from the 1st of July, 1927, we must have an income. Inasmuch as that period is six months away, that income can of necessity only be estimated and the Comptroller estimates our income for that period as follows: General property tax Direct State tax... $23,000,000 00 Court and stenog raphers' tax.... 764,152 46 [Vol. 36] Transmitted to the Legislature January 5, 1927 10,000,000 00 $178,060,587 28 Other revenues and receipts... Total estimated revenues and The Comptroller further estimates that on July 1, 1927, we will have in the General Fund, a cash balance of..... Inasmuch as we will charge ourselves on the side of appropriations with certain immediately available ones, in order to balance the books, we must establish what part of the immediately available appropriations will be expended prior to July 1, 1927. This expenditure will come out of current funds or receipts from the State's various sources of income during the first half of the calendar year of 1927. Based on our experience in the past, this is estimated at... That amount must be added to the General Fund Cash Balance as of July first, because it is obvious that if no immediately available appropriations were made by the Legislature of 1927, that sum would go from income into cash balance. Therefore, the estimated cash balance on July 1, 1927, can be set forth at.... $35,080,107 52 29,000,000 00 64,080,107 52 Transmitted to the Legislature January 5, 1927 [Vol. 36] However, it is estimated that there This might well be referred to as the We will have total estimated avail- TAX REDUCTION $37,787,117 01 26,292,990 51 178,060,587 28 204,353,577 79 In 1926 the Legislature appropriated for the support of the government approximately a total of One Hundred and Eighty-six Million Dollars. A careful analysis of all requests for appropriation this year and of our estimated resources will leave the State, I am satisfied, in a position to make reductions to our taxpayers very much along the lines adopted at the last session of the Legislature. I am satisfied that the financial committees of both Houses will give this matter their close attention and will safeguard to the last degree every expenditure large and small of the public money, as zealously as the finances of a private corporation are protected. |