Newspapers / Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / July 31, 1925, edition 1 / Page 7
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GOVERNOR ANGUS W. McLEAN TALKS TO NEWSPAPER MEN State Press Meeting at Asheville Honor ed By Presence Governor Says “Headline Writ ers Control Pub lic Opinion” (Continued from Last Week) (5) Another most important mea sure enacted by the creation of a Sal ary and Wage Commission. It was found that salaries and wages of em ployees in the State’s services were, in many cases, unequal; they were not always based primarily upon du ties and responsibilities of the posi tion with the actual value of the work performed. Employees in some de partments doing the same kkind of work as those in other departments received different salaries. There was no proper classification of the em ployees as between the various depart ments; and there was no proscribed rule as to working hours and other conditions of employment. This situ ation gave rise to complaints and dis satisfaction among some of the em ployees. The United States Govern ment and most of the progressive State Governments in the Union have long since auopted a plan of personnel classification in government service. North Carolina has never undertaken this very necessary reform. The General Assembly created a Salary and Wage Commission, composed of five disinterested buusiness men, auth orized to devise a complete plan of personnel classification. The Com mission has been appointed and has entered upon the discharge of its du ties. It is composed of men who have had long experience in matters involv ing compensation for personal service. It is an independent body with power to perform its duties independently I The Record Publishing Co. 1 B 0 I | ZEBULON, N. C. | | | | THE PLACE WHERE YOU CAN GET YOUR PRINTING DONE, AND DONE WHEN | 1 . ! § YOU NEED IT-AND GET IT DONE RIGHT. H s 1 £t 3 w | BOOKLETS, - PAMPHLETS, - CIRCULARS (LARGE OR SMALL), LETTER HEADS, § 8 | | BILL HEADS, STATEMENTS, AND ENVELOPES. @ B ' 9 9 I B GIVE US A TRIAL; WE’LL DO THE REST, AND GIVE YOU SATISFACTION. | 1 2 WE WANT YOUR WORK, YOU WANT THE WORK DONE WHEN YOU NEED IT. | % H 0 9 h LET US FIGURE WITH YOU ON YOUR NEXT JOB; WE WILL PLEASE YOU! | I 9 6 1 B __ ___ n of other departments of the State Government. After the report of the Commission is filed, it becomes the duty of the Governor to approve or disapprove the same. The main purpose of the Commission is to have the salaries and wages of State em ployees depend upon the value of ser vice rendered the State. Employees doing like work under like conditions in the different departments will be placed ir. the same class, and for each class of positions, a range of salary will be fixed which is intended to be fair to both the employees and the State. There will be no attempt on the part of the Commission to pre scribe standard and fixed salaries without regard to the amount and character of the actual service per formed. Classificataion by fixing a range of salaries including a maximum and minimum and leaving the particular salary within the range to be fixed upon the basis of service is a very different thing from {.arbitrary stand ardization. The salaries will be so fixed as to reward faithful employees for their industry and efficiency. The salaries to be recommended by the Commission are to be based on the assumption that the employees will work the full number of hours required by the reg ulat on. Positions will be allocated according to classes; and standard rates of pay will be established for each class, providing a range between the maximum and minimum salary so that the particular salary between the maximum and minimum will depend upon the experience and efficiency of the employee, as determined by the head of the department. The length of service and the record of faithful ness of Ihe of the employee in the past will be an important factor in de termining the exact salary to be paid. It is believed that a most important result of the work of the Commission will be the fixing of uniform hours of service and uniform conditions of ser vice, such as vacation leaves, sick leaves, etc., and that this will bring about not only more efficiency in the service, but considerable saving as well, for the reason that more work will be done by the same number of THE ZEBULON RECORD, JULY 31, 1925 employee sthan has been done in the past. The appointment of a Salary and Wage Commission has already resulted in the elimination of many cases of over-payment and many ir«C qualities have already been removed by administrative action in anticipa tion of the action of the Commission. There can be no doubt that when the work of the Commission is complete it will be found that the dissatisfac tion that has existed before, on ac count of discrimination in the salaries of employees in the various depart ments, will be removed and the gener al morale of the service strengthen ed and improved. It has been suggested by some who are uniformed as to the actual facts that th" last General Assembly wts parsimonious and niggardly in making appropriations for current mainten ance and for permanent improvements for the various institutions of the State. 1 Let us see what the facts are: The Legislative Budget Commission appointed by the General Assembly of 1925, composed of the Chairmen of the Finance and Appropriation Commttees and one other business man appointed by the Governor visit investigated their needs, and, over a period from September 1924 to Jan uary 1925, conducted hearings of all the institutions, departments, and oth er agencies of the State and made its report to the General Assembly on Jan. 30th, 1925, fifteen days after I was inaugurated. I had no pait in the deliberations of the Commission and knew nothing about the needs of the various institu tions of the State except such as I obtained from the report of the Com mission. This report was taken Up by members of the Finance and Ap propriation Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives and af ter giving all the institutions and otn er agencies opportunity to be heard again as to their needs, these Com mittees reported to the Senate and House, a bill carrying appropriations they deemed necessary for the main tenance of the institutions and other agencies for the biennium beginning July Ist, 1925. This bill was enacted into law with slight modifications. Without suggesting the amount of appropriations or the amount of taxes to be raised, I urged the General As sembly with all the power at my com mand to provide revenue sufficient to meet the appropriations for the en- su:ng biennium and thus balance the j budget. It turned out that the total j appropriations made by the General Assembly were in excess of the esti mated revenue for the fiscal period for which the appropriations were made. Realizing this condition and declar.ng unequivocally in favor of the policy of a bale need budget, the General Assembly placed upon me as Director of the Budget, under the new Executive Act, the burden of balanc ing the budget for the ensuing bienni um dihecting me to reduce the appro priations on a pro rata basis in such amount as would be necessary to make the total appropriations avail- ; able balance with the total revenues | available. This was an unpleasant j duty imposed upon the Director of the 1 Budget and one which he preferred not to exercise. In the performance of the duty, however, he found it nec- j essary to give notice of a five per cent reduction in all appropriations, not only because he fe't it necessary j to carry out the mandate of the Gen- j eral Assembly, but also because he j believed that the balancing of the i budget was essent'al to a sound fis cal policy and for the best interests of the State. In the first request made to the Legislative Budget Commission in the Fall of 1924, the various departments, institutions, and other agencies of the State asked for a total sum ol $16,- 813,408.00 annually, exclusive of the i amount to pay interest, j sinking fund and other fixed charges, j The Leg slative Budget Commission j recommended and the legislature ap- ! proved a total of §10,070,518.00 only. In order to provide for the appro priations made by the General Assem bly of 1925, it was necessary to in crease the total amount of taxes levi ed nearly 45 per cent. If the total amount asked for by the institutions and agencies on account of mainten ance had been granted taxes would have been increased approximately 100 per cent. The large increase in the taxes levied by the General As sembly of 1925 as compared with the amount levied by the General Assem bly of 1923 was due to the failure of the General Assembly of 1923 to levy sufficient taxes to pay the appropria tions made by that Assembly. What intelligent and fair minded person will say that the General Assembly in 1925 was parsimonious and niggardly in providing for current expenses of the State, because it increased taxes ' only 45 percent instead of 100 per cent ? The various institutions requested of the Legislative Budget Commission the sum of $17,053,335.00 for perma nent improvements for the ensuing bi ennium beg nning July Ist, 1925. The Legislative Budget Commission rec ommended and the General Assembly granted appropriations for permanent i improvements amounting to only $3,-1 700,000.00 an amount sufficient to round out the twenty (20) million dollar program projected in 1921. The General Assembly of 1925, au thorized for highways, permanent im provements and for other purposes, an increase of approximately $41,000,- 000.00 in the funded debt of the State as compared with the sum of about j thirty millions authorized by the Gen-' eral Assembly of 1923. Will any intelligent and fair minded person say that this record character izes the General Assembly of 1925 as parsimonious and niggardly? It would be interesting to know what the General Assembly of 1925 should have done in increasing taxa- J tion, as well as the funded debt of the State to have gained the approval of those persons who have character ized it as parsimonious and niggard- ( !y- . . ! No patriotic and prudent citizen of j North Carolina who know the real 1 facts as the Governor and members of j the General Assembly know them,! would have favored any greater in- j crease in the debt of the State at that time. Those who believe, as I . do, that we should maintain steady J progress in the evclopment of our State, know full well that the only way to do so is to proceed along safe and constructive lines. It must be remembered that our rate of progress is always dependent upon the ability of the taxpayer to withstand the increased burden of tax ation and that this in turn depends upon the progressive increase in the production of wealth, which, after all, is the only safe rule whereby we can measure the ability of the taxpayers to meet the demands made upon them. Any program of expenditures by the State or any local sub division should be predicated upon the theory that th expenditures are needed, and that the resources will justify the expen ditures. It is an economic principle as old as civilization itself that taxes must be levied according to the econo mic ability of the citizen to pay. If , the cost of government is too heavy, the efficacy of government is soon de stroyed. Public service first beoioies a handicap and then an intolerable burden. North Carolina has made greater progress in the last ten years than any state in the Union. Hor natural resources are scarcely untouched. Her I relative position in advanced develop ment among the states of the Union is secure. I have an abiding faith that she can and will continue to go forward, but in order to go forward steadily and safely she must proceed, along those lines which the accumulated experi ence of governments and peoples have£ demonstrated to be prudent and sound. Above all, she must conserve and protect her great resources, and among these none are more important or fundamental than her potential tax ing power upon which her credit struc ture and ultimate safety so largely de pend. In conclusion, I should like to sum marize the fundamental tenets of the administrative program, which I an nounced on the day of my inaugura tion to which I still adhere: (a) Cur rent expenditures made during each fiscal ye r should be met by providing current revenues collectable in the* same period, thus maintaining the? State government upon a balanced budget basis; (b) government admin istration should be conducted along the lines of sound and constructive economy, so that {ill expenses may be watched carefully and maximum ser vice obtained at minimum cost; (c) bonds should not be issued except for useful and necessary permanent im provements, and then provision should always be made for the payment of the interest and amortizing the princi pal within the life of the improve ments. If these simple, yet fundamental fis cal policies are followed, North Caro lina will continue to maintain the great lead which she now holds among her sister states in the race for fur ther progress and development. The declaration of policy I have just outlined and the expressed deter mination to adhere to it has already borne fruit. North Carolina bonds are already selling upon a more favorable inter est basis than they have in years. LOST AND FOUND—The Record will help you solve such questions.
Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 31, 1925, edition 1
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