THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD

Saturday, March 23, 1918. An Albany judge has ordered Republican members of the Troy common council to provide the votes necessary for approval of the city’s 1918 budget at a special meeting next Tuesday, The Record reports. State supreme court justice William P. Rudd issues a preemptory writ of mandamus in response to a petition from Thomas H. Dwyer, a Troy taxpayer and pensioner. The writ compels the common counsel to approve the budget so the city can begin the process of levying and collecting taxes. Democrats control the council but lack the three-fourths majority necessary for budget passage without Republican support. City corporation counsel Thomas H. Guy, an appointee of Democratic mayor Cornelius F. Burns, represents the council at today’s hearing, but not the Republican members specifically. To the chagrin of Alderman George T. McCune (R-14th Ward), Guy tells the court that “nothing which he could dignify as a legal reason for objecting to the application.” “If I thought we could have special counsel we would have had it here this morning,” McCune protests. He tells the court that while he personally approved the budget as a member of the council’s finance committee, Republicans as a whole had blocked approval until city department heads responded to their requests for further information on specific budget items.

Since the budget controversy began, Guy has stated repeatedly that aldermen can get any information they want by going to the department offices. The Republicans continue to insist that the department heads appear before the council and make their information a matter of public record. Attorney James Farrell, representing Dwyer, reminds the court that the council has no power to compel the department heads to appear, but could adopt resolutions requesting the relevant information.

“Oh, the majority is against us,” McCune counters, “We could not get such a resolution adopted. We are only representing the people in this action…. We can’t conscientiously go back to the people and tell them we voted right until we have this information.”

McCune tells the court that “We can and we will approve this budget in fifteen minutes once we get the information we want.” Now he, or at least some of the Republicans, will have to approve it whether they get the information or not. Told that there is no appealing a mandamus writ, he tells reporters that “He was not sure yet, even in the face of the court order, if he would vote for the estimate.”

The city is required by law to begin tax collection on April 1. A payment on $300,000 worth of city bonds is due on April 18.