Overcrowding is a problem in our training schools, and the money
allotted in our capital program is designed to correct that condition.
In the capital budget of the Department of Correction is money to
begin projects recommended in an important special study completed
some months ago. It includes funds for the expansion of correctional
camp facilities; to develop plans for a new 600-bed Institution for
Adolescents, a key project in the planned development; for the con-
struction of a 400-bed Work Colony and for numerous other projects.
I have recommended a total of $343, 000 to Morgan State College,
for campus site development, for the erection of a new residence for
the president and for further improvements to the Soper Library and
the Auditorium-Music Arts Building. For the five teachers colleges,
$553, 000 has been earmarked for Bowie, $459, 200 for Frostburg,
$485, 000 for Salisbury, $286, 000 for Towson and $357, 000 for Coppin.
In the improvement budget of the University of Maryland is pro-
vided $1, 000, 000 for the acquisition of land as the second step in the
expansion of the Baltimore campus, which is part of an urban
renewal project. There is also money for the construction of a dor-
mitory and classroom buildings at College Park and for the installa-
tion of a sewerage system at Maryland State College in Princess Anne.
This, then, is the fiscal program I offer for the first year of my
Administration. Any new program which you initiate or adopt at
my suggestion will necessitate a supplemental appropriation.
Later in this session, I shall submit to you legislative proposals
which I consider to be of immediate importance to the State. We
must not forget that programs cost money and that our only source
of money is the taxes paid by the citizens of the State. I urge you,
then, as legislative representatives of these citizens, to weigh carefully
the long range cost of any program initiated.
The budget I submit to you today is, in my best opinion, soundly
conceived. It is a program which, without additional taxes, provides
for a continuation and improvement of all essential State services.
But the budget, under our Constitution, is a joint responsibility of
the Governor and the Legislature. If there are flaws in it, it is our
responsibility—yours and mine—to detect them and to erase them.
When I return here a year from now with a budget for the second
year of my Administration, I hope to be able to offer you a reappraisal
of policies, a reassessment of governmental functions and a new evalu-
ation of our resources to guide us in the proper course for the future.
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