State of New Jersey
Executive Department
June 24, 1941
WHEREAS it was the intent of the Legislature when it created the Office of Commissioner of Finance "to provide control by the Governor over state expenditures, to aid the several departments, boards, institutions, commissions, officers and other agencies of the state to exercise greater restraint in the spending of money available for their uses through legislative appropriation by the adoption of a system of allotments"; the ultimate purpose being "to provide complete legislative and executive control over every state expenditure... " and
WHEREAS experience has shown that the executive control intended by the statute can only be achieved when all spending agencies file work programs with the State Commissioner of Finance setting out the allotments requested by the spending agency quarterly and
WHEREAS all state departments, whether operating on a fiscal year beginning July 1st or on a fiscal year running concurrent with the calendar year, except the State Highway Department, have annually filed work programs, as provided by law, with the State Finance Commissioner and
WHEREAS the State Highway Department has appropriated to it each year a sum upwards of $50,000,000. and
WHEREAS the State Highway Department has continually refused to file a work program making impossible adequate executive control over the tremendous expenditures of said department and
WHEREAS it appears to my satisfaction that the appropriation of the State Highway Department is not being spent in the best interest of the state in that there is waste and extravagance in connection therewith,
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLES EDISON, Governor of the State of New Jersey pursuant to the authority vested in me by law, order that further expenditures from appropriations to the State Highway Department, contained in Chapter 141 of the Laws of 1941, more specifically described with the following account numbers R 8 A; R 8 B-C-E; R 8 D; R 8 F; and R 8 I, and any and all unexpended balances and uncommitted sums in said accounts are hereby prohibited and enjoined until the following conditions have been fully performed:
(a) The State Highway Commissioner shall forthwith file with the State Commissioner of Finance fully detailed work programs setting out allotments requested by it by quarters commencing July 1, 1941, covering all unexpended balances and uncommitted funds; copies of monthly reports to the State Comptroller on the condition of State Highway accounts, monthly automobile records, and such other supplemental information as may be required by the State Commissioner of Finance;
(b) The State Highway Commissioner shall forthwith furnish to the Governor a detailed financial statement covering all funds of the State Highway Department, free or obligated, committed or uncommitted, showing in the case of committed or obligated funds, the project, date of commencement and completion, cost of labor and materials separately and in such itemized detail as to be readily understood;
(c) The State Highway Commissioner shall forthwith furnish to the Governor a detailed list of the monthly payroll of said department giving name, address, salary and nature of work of each employee by county for the following months; April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December of 1940 and it is further
ORDERED that pending full and complete compliance with the foregoing conditions to the satisfaction of the Governor, expenditures may be made from the accounts hereinbefore enumerated and necessary committments and contracts made only upon the written approval of the State Commissioner of Finnace, excepting, however, that in case of a catastrophe or an emergency resulting in damage to roads or bridges the Highway Commissioner may proceed as if this order had not been made provided said action does not involve an expenditure of more than $50,000 and it is further
ORDERED that this order shall become operative immediately when served upon the State Highway Commissioner, the State Comptroller and the State Purchasing Commissioner, and shall remain in full force and effect until modified, altered, or dissolved by me.
GIVEN under my hand and the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey, this
twenty-fourth day
of June, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-one, and in the
Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixty-fifth.
Charles Edison
Governor
ATTEST:
Harry Gilroy
Secretary to the Governor.