APPENDIX XIV. MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR HOFFMAN RELATING TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Showing the Value of Real Estate, etc., etc.; together with a Comparison between New York and other Cities. To the Legislature: EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ALBANY, The financial condition of New York City is a matter of great interest to the people of the State at large, and, in some degree, to the commercial world, its stocks and bonds being held for investment at home and abroad. In view of the recent events, I deemed it my duty to procure for you full information as to its liabilities and resources, and addressed a letter to the Chairman of the State Board of Commissioners for Revision of the Tax Laws, the Hon. David A. Wells, who seemed to me specially fitted for the work, requesting him to investigate and report to me. In consequence of delay in his obtaining some of the facts, his report did not reach me until my annual message was in print. My letter to him and his reply are as follows: STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, MY DEAR SIR-The financial condition and credit of New York City are of interest as well to the people of the State at large as to its own citizens. It is important that the actual condition of our great metropolis in reference to its indebtedness and its resources should be made known with accuracy; and I desire to communicate the facts to the Legislature and the people of the State in my next message. Will you undertake to investigate the matter in my behalf? Hon. DAVID A. WELLS, Very truly yours, JOHN T HOFFMAN. Chairman, etc. ish, and I used to be on the qui vive lest I should do or say anything to increase his irritability. Persons of less vital energy would have taken to the bed under circumstances when he worked laboriously. When the rage for speculation came on, he was drawn into the vortex, and alas! poor fellow, he is only one among many, whose peace of mind was destroyed, and whose sleepless solici tude produced diseases from which death could alone release them. How many creations of beauty are entombed with him! "A sentiment which he once quoted to me, as expressive of his feelings, now comes back to me with great force. For myself,' he said, 'much rather would I sleep where the moonbeams would convert into diamonds the dew. drops gathering on the rosebuds, than to lie beneath the dome of St. Peter'srather rest where the soft south-wind would wake the fragrance of blossoms which affectionate hands had planted, than to molder in the chambers of the eternal pyramids.'"* *At the time of his death Inman was Vice-President of the National Academy of Design. Immediately upon his decease, of a complaint aggravated, if indeed not brought on, as hinted in Mrs. Stone's Diary, by anxiety of mind, a public exhibition was given in New York of such of his paintings as could readily be collected, for the benefit of his widow and children. The extent of his works may in some measure be judged of from the fact that this particular collection contained one hundred and twenty-seven paintings of various kinds.-Author. APPENDIX XIV. MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR HOFFMAN RELATING TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Showing the Value of Real Estate, etc., etc.; together with a Comparison between New York and other Cities. To the Legislature: EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ALBANY, The financial condition of New York City is a matter of great interest to the people of the State at large, and, in some degree, to the commercial world, its stocks and bonds being held for investment at home and abroad. In view of the recent events, I deemed it my duty to procure for you full information as to its liabilities and resources, and addressed a letter to the Chairman of the State Board of Commissioners for Revision of the Tax Laws, the Hon. David A. Wells, who seemed to me specially fitted for the work, requesting him to investigate and report to me. In consequence of delay in his obtaining some of the facts, his report did not reach me until my annual message was in print. My letter to him and his reply are as follows: STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, MY DEAR SIR-The financial condition and credit of New York City are of interest as well to the people of the State at large as to its own citizens. It is important that the actual condition of our great metropolis in reference to its indebtedness and its resources should be made known with accuracy; and I desire to communicate the facts to the Legislature and the people of the State in my next message. Will you undertake to investigate the matter in my behalf? Very truly yours, Hon. DAVID A. WELLS, JOHN T HOFFMAN. Chairman, etc. NEW YORK, December 28th, 1871. SIR-In response to your note of November 25th, requesting me to investigate and report to you on the relation which exists between the indebtedness of the city and county of New York, and the resources available for the pay. ment of such indebtedness; or the extent of the resources of property which may be fully regarded as constituting an adequate and inalienable security for the ultimate payment in principal and interest of such indebtedness, I have the honor to submit the following exhibit: FUNDED DEBT. By report furnished on request by Hon. A. H. Green, Comptroller, it appears that the funded debt-bearing five, six, and seven per cent. interest-of the city and county of New York, was, on the 16th day of December, 1871, $87,371,808.51; and the assets of the sinking fund of the city and county-consisting of stocks and cash-available for the redemption of debt, were on the same day $20,137,093.02; thus making the present net funded debt of the city and county of New York, $67,234,715.49. FLOATING OR TEMPORARY DEBT. The temporary or floating debt of the city and county of New York-consisting of bonds issued in anticipation of receipts and assessments, arrears of interest, State taxes, unpaid warrants and the like-was on the 16th day of December, 1871, $28,259,071.35; or, deducting cash on hand-$6,959,919.62 in the city and county treasury-$21,299,152.73. In addition to the above, the Comptroller also reports claims already presented on unsettled accounts, to an estimated aggregate of $6,000,000; which last included would make the total ascertained debt and "claims presented" of the city and county of New York, on the 16th of December, 1871, $94,523,867.22. PROSPECTIVE INDEBTEDNESS. So much for the present aspect of the indebtedness of the city and county of New York. In respect to the future, it is to be noted: First. That much of the existing temporary and floating debt of the city and county of New York as above indicated—including an aggregate of assessment bonds issued in anticipation of tax receipts of $14,950,700.00-is redeemable from the collection of assessments, or arrears of taxes, and that a very considerable amount of these assessments and arrears is certain to be collected; and, Second. That the city holds bonds and mortgages on account of sales of real estate to the amount of $1,132,893.26; the proceeds of which, when collected, are applicable for an increase of the sinking fund held for the redemption of the funded debt. On the other hand, it is known that claims to a very considerable amount for services rendered and materials furnished to the several departments of the city and county government, during the year 1871 and previously, are yet to be presented, and that the carrying out of such public works as are already in progress, or certain to be authorized, will also require further additional expenditures. But in estimating the amount of these prospective requirements for expend iture, it should not be overlooked, that the amount of claims against the city yet to be presented is not likely to be in excess of the arrears of assessments and taxes yet to be collected; and further, that the amount to be hereafter expended on account of public improvements cannot, with any regard for economy and moderation, ever prove disproportionate to the concurrent increase in the material resources of the city, arising from its certain and rapid increase in wealth, business, and population. So that, making every allowance for contingencies, or any immediate advances on account of public improvements, the total present liabilities of New York city and county may be safely estimated as not in excess of one hundred millions of dollars; and further, that the ratio which the liabilities of the city and county at present sustain to their assets and resources is not likely to be changed for the worse in the future; certainly not if the safeguards against corruption and extravagant expenditure, suggested by recent experience, are by the Legislature authorized and provided. INFLUENCE OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS IN AUGMENTING THE SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL REVENUE. As bearing upon the question of future municipal liabilities, on account of expenditures for public improvements, it is interesting to note the result which has followed one of the largest single items of expenditure authorized by the city for such purpose, and which at the time of its inception was denounced by many as a measure of indefensible extravagance. We refer to the expenditures incurred by reason of the construction of the "Central Park;" the cost of which, up to 1869, is returned at $10,463,965.00. Now, an examination of all the facts pertaining to this expenditure will show, that, so far from its having been a burden upon the city treasury, it has really proved a direct and important source of revenue. Thus in 1856, before the Park was commenced, the total valuation of real estate for taxation in the three wards around the Park, the 12th, 19th, and 22d, was $26,429,566.00; but in in 1866, when the Park had been practically completed, the valuation of the same property for assessment was returned at $80,070,415.00, an increase in ten years of $53,640,850.00. And further, the revenue received by taxation on this increased valuation was sufficient, in 1870, to not only pay the interest on all the bonds of the city issued for the Park purchase and construction, but actually afforded a surplus of over ($3,000,000) three millions of dollars; or a sum sufficient, if used as a sinking fund, to pay the entire principal and interest of the cost of the Park, in less time than the Park was in the course of construction. ASSETS AND RESOURCES. The maximum of the liabilities of the city and county, on account of indebtedness, having been thus estimated, we come next to the no less important consideration of the assets and resources available for the payment of such indebtedness; or the real tangible property which may be properly regarded in the nature of security or guaranty for the payment of such obligations of indebtedness as the city and county of New York may have lawfully issued. Any valuation of the public property of the city must, from necessity, be very indefinite, inasmuch as many of the items which would be included in any inventory-as the streets, sewers, lamps, public monuments, and the like |