revenue from these sources, and, if desirable, ultimate title to the product of future franchises. COUNTY OFFICERS. Boards of Supervisors and Constitutional Objections. We have acted upon the assumption that it may be held necessary under the Constitution of the State to preserve intact for constitutional purposes the several counties included within The Greater New York. But this does not imply that Boards of Supervisors with extensive legislative functions are to be maintained. We have, therefore, expressly provided that nothing contained in the Charter shall be deemed to interfere with or hereafter prevent the election, pursuant to laws relating thereto, of all county officers required by the Constitution of the State to be elected in either of the counties in whole or in part included within the city. The salaries of all county officers in the Counties of New York, Kings and Richmond, are, unless otherwise provided by law, to be fixed by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, subject to the approval of the Municipal Assembly. Such salaries, together with all other county charges and expenses in each of the three counties named, are to be audited by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and to be paid by the City of New York in the same manner as the salaries of city officers and other city charges are paid. The amount necessary to pay such salaries and county charges is to be levied and assessed by the Municipal Assembly upon the property of the three counties, respectively, so that each shall ultimately bear and pay all its own county charges. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Queens will continue. We have provided for the equitable apportionment of that part of the county debt of the County of Queens to be assumed by The Greater New York, and have further provided for the levying and collection, by the city, of taxes in that part of Queens County included within the city, and for the division of school moneys. In order to avoid the possible necessity of having in each of the Counties of New York, Kings and Richmond, a Board of Supervisors, with all the powers now possessed by such a body under existing general laws of the State, we have prepared for submission to the Legislature a separate general law, entitled: "An Act to provide for Boards of Supervisors in counties wholly within the limits of a city but not comprising the whole of such city, and defining the powers and duties thereof." That such an Act would be general in its character, as being applicable to all counties of a certain class within the State, and therefore not violative of the Constitution, has the sanction of the Court of Appeals. The Act will apply to the Counties of New York, Kings and Richmond. The single power that it will give to the Board of Supervisors in each of these counties is that of dividing the county into Assembly Districts, in counties entitled to more than one member of Assembly, as provided by Section 5, of Article III, of the Constitution. This is the only power expressly conferred by the Constitution upon a Board of Supervisors. The Act expressly provides that Boards of Supervisors in counties. falling within the class described shall possess no further powers, and expressly prohibits them from incurring any debt. It further provides that in all such counties the Board of Supervisors shall be composed of the members of the Municipal Assembly, Board of Aldermen, Common Council or other legislative body of the city, who shall be elected as such and also as Supervisors, by the people of the county; that the members of the Board shall serve as such without compensation; and that their terms of office as Supervisors shall be co-extensive with their terms of office as members of the Municipal Assembly, Board of Aldermen, Common Council, or other legislative body of the city within which the county is located. We believe that this Act would fully satisfy the requirements of Sections 26 and 27 of Article III of the Constitution. Section 26 provides that: "There shall be in the several counties, except in cities whose boundaries are the same as those of the County, a Board of Supervisors to be composed of such members, and elected in such manner, and for such period, as is or may be provided by law." Section 27 provides that: "The Legislature shall, by general laws, confer upon the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties of the State such further powers of local legislation and administration as the legislature may from time to time deem expedient." Having thus, as we believe, complied with the literal provisions of the Constitution, that possibly require a Board of Supervisors in New York, Kings and Richmond Counties, when New York and Kings Counties cease to be coterminous with cities, it remains to be said that the spirit of the Constitution in this respect is preserved and not violated by the proposed Act. The Constitution expressly provides that when a city and a county are coterminous, the duties of the Board of Supervisors may be devolved upon the legislative body of the city, and that such counties may no longer incur debt. This provision applies specifically at the present time to both New York and Kings Counties. It cannot be maintained that by uniting into one city the two cities of New York and Brooklyn, now coterminous with counties, anything but the letter of the Constitution requires as to these counties even such an Act as we propose. Neither does the spirit of the Constitution seem to require it as to Richmond County. The powers of local legislation and administration heretofore generally possessed by Boards of Supervisors, in our opinion can be vested by the Legislature of the State in the Municipal Assembly, and administrative departments of The Greater New York, and the draft so provides Some members of the Committee, taking together all of the provisions of the Constitution and their manifest purposes, are of opinion that it is competent to devolve all of the duties and powers of the Counties of New York, Kings and Richmond on the Municipal Assembly, and that it is not necessary to provide for the separate existence of Boards of Supervisors in each county. But we have united as a matter of precaution in the view that it would be safer to assume that it might be held necessary under the Constitution to maintain the existence of Boards of Supervisors in each county to discharge the duty which the Constitution in its terms requires of such Boards. We, therefore, recommend the passage of a separate Act of the character above mentioned. THE GREATER NEW YORK. In every stage of our work we have been mindful of the determination both of the communities affected, as expressed at the polls, and of the Legislature of the State, embodied in the Act creating the Commission, that consolidation should be promptly effected. The municipalities to be legally united are actually one. The people living under the government of one corporation do business under that of another. They go and come, oblivious of the artificial lines of division. There are no longer any natural obstacles to compact unity. Common institutions and mutual relations have created a common patriotism. Nothing is needed but a unity of laws and government to make New York all that nature and circumstances have entitled her to become. To draft a charter for such a city has been a work vast in extent, intricate in detail and far-reaching in its consequences. Your Committee have been engaged since the last meeting of the Commission continuously upon it, and have given it every moment of time within their command and every effort their capacity could afford. We submit the result to the judgment of the Commission and to the people of the communities involved, in the expectation that any serious error or defect may be corrected before the charter is passed. New York, December 24th, 1896. WILLIAM C. DE WITT, Chairman. THOMAS F. GILROY SETH LOW. GEORGE M. PINNEY, JR. After public hearings the commission amended and revised the draft, and submitted the same as the proposed charter to the legislature February 13th, 1897. The commission submitted to the legislature with the charter the following report: To the Legislature: The commission appointed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 488 of the laws of 1896 to prepare a charter for greater New York and to submit, in connection therewith, such supplementary bills as might appear to be necessary to carry into effect the legislative intent as declared by the law under which they were appointed, respectfully submits herewith: 1. A charter for greater New York. 2. An act to provide for boards of supervisors in counties wholly within the limits of a city, but not comprising the whole of such city, and defining the powers and duties thereof. 3. An act relating to the election of city officers of the city of New York as constituted by the greater New York charter, at the general election to be held in November in the year 1897, and for the canvass and return of the votes thereof and the determination of persons elected thereat. 4. Certain amendments to chapter 909 of the laws of 1896, known as the election law, which appear to be necessary in connection with the elections to be held in 1897 and thereafter, within the territory to be consolidated into greater New York. 5. An act to provide for the election of supervisors in the several wards of the borough of Queens in the city of New York, to be members of the boards of supervisors of the county of Queens. 6. An act in relation to the city court of the city of New York and for the accommodation thereof, authorizing the fitting up and equipping of certain parts of the city hall in the city of New York. 7. A proposed constitutional amendment to authorize the municipal assembly or other legislative body of a city to discharge for counties wholly included within the limits of such city the duties at present devolved by the constitution upon boards of supervisors throughout the state. 8. A proposed constitutional amendment forbidding counties wholly included within the limits of a city to become indebted. A proposed constitutional amendment authorizing laws to be passed providing in municipal elections for minority or proportionate representation. NECESSITY FOR SUCH SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATION. Before speaking of the charter itself, it appears to be proper to explain the necessity for the supplementary legislation suggested, and to state the reasons that have prompted the commission to submit the proposed constitutional amendments. The legislature will recall that his excellency, Governor Morton, in approving the bill under which the commission has been serving, called especial attention to the possibility as an incidental result of consolidation, of the resuscitation in the counties of New York and Kings of separate and independent boards of supervisors, and of the possible continuance in Richmond county of a board of supervisors notwithstanding the inclusion of that county within the limits of the enlarged city. This question, thus prominently brought to their attention, naturally has received from the commission the most careful consideration. The members of the commission are of one mind in believing that the creation of greater New York would be an almost unmixed misfortune, if it were to result in paralleling the city government throughout the territory of the consolidated city with a separate and independent county government in the three counties of New York, Kings and Richmond. The state constitution deals effectually with such a situation when a city and a county are literally coterminous; and probably no one will dispute that the spirit of the constitution, as expressed in the provisions dealing with that case, equally demands that the functions of the board. of supervisors in the various counties included within the consolidated city of New York should be discharged by the legislative body of the city, precisely as such functions are now discharged for New York county by the board of aldermen of the city of New York, and for Kings county by the common council of Brooklyn. On the other hand, it is not clear that the letter of the constitution, by reason of its failure to provide in terms for the precise case of a city that should include within its boundaries the whole or more than one county, might not lead to serious embarrassment. Accordingly, the commission urges as a material part of the plan for the creation of greater New York the passage of the act defining the powers and duties of boards of supervisors in counties wholly within the limits of a city, but not comprising the whole of such city. The Act provides: 1. That in such counties the boards of supervisors shall consist of the members of the municipal assembly, to be elected as such, and also as supervisors, by the people of the county. 2. That such boards of supervisors may act as county canvassers, and shall have the power conferred by the constitution upon supervisors of subdividing the counties into assembly districts. 3. That such boards of supervisors shall have no other power of local legislation or administration, and shall have no power to create debt. 4. All other boards of supervisors within such counties are abolished from and after January 1, 1898. The powers of local legislation and administration heretofore |