The national Republican., 1867-11-15
oROReETOwN NEWS,

| GEORGETOWN NEWS.
TnB DEFICIT or rHE LATE TAX CoLLgcroR-RR.
| PORT or rHn Joisr COMMITTEE oY rHE CouNcIts =
Last night the Joint Cou ooil c5mmittee who had In
charge the investigation OF the accounts Of Char %
following report;
| and Common Council Of tho corporation Of GCorge.
town. 10 whom wste referred tho report Of the stand
Ing committee Of the Board OF hlaermen, dated
October 1871, relating TO an alleged deficit in the
returns Of Charles D. welch late iaI collector and
all matters relating thereto with Ruthority 10 employ
aa auditor to examine the book. Of the late cose.
tor and other sources ofinformaton have discharged
their duty to the best Of their ability ,snd speet.
fally present The following as the result:
| their nrt m,sting they spPoin'ed Mr. Richard
/ Rdmonston their auditor, with tho following ia.
stfuetiOns TO report to The ocmmlitee: FIRST Tn.
aggrelhte amount Of the assessments for zach yelr
from 1850 to 1853, both years Inclusive aud whether
the clerk has put into the hands Of tho late collector
the proper amount Il taxes for each respective year
Second The balance OF taxss for each year charged
on the books OF the clerk sgaius the late collector
Ard the property represented by such taxes. Third
Tho smount Of taxes due and COLLECTED In each year
and paid to the clerk 70 make good the dsaeeney OF
/ any pior year. Fourth What 10 the d,neiency for
| 1855 Tor which the bondsmsn are liabief
The report nrpsars In the condensed report Of the
audi,or marked Al and the details In his several
tabular statsmen for the years 1850 aud 1866 ncu.
siyo, marked rsspsetiyey b, @, D, O. n, l. aud
Of the water tar for the years 1850 and 1884, ineu.
hve; marked * j and the nnnl rs,ult iu the table
marked L, and In tbs revised tabular ststsment Of
the clerk, markedM.
According to the auditors report tho deficit In the
last smouatd to this sun OF $40 500 50, and Tor Inc
year lsGj to the rum Of e2,S2s,49.
A co ding to the revised tabular sta sment Of the
amounted the day to sl3 ssI 81, aad for The
| year 585 10 the sum Of ei,77265.
The amount reported by the clark OF els 5Si 50
contains the SON OF 1920 paid In by thu late collector
on the 18th Of October without stating TO the credit Of
what account or Acsounts u Ah uld be carried and
therefore not e,tlIa,sd BY The suSitos Deduetius
By the auditor leAvos sS ess 81 as the gross aaoue
| Of the dsneit
Tls difference Of o ,7oI 81 in the nual ro.ul, %
estimated by the auditor aud by the clerk shows the
ereess Of deductions claimed by the Ela over
| and above what the amount OF caah paid In by him
eaIyO, is fally explained BY The auditor in hi, re-
port.
| the discrepancy iu the raturus Of the auditor anu
clerk for the year 1896 the denet scsor to th,
auditor, being t 32j a. and according to the clerk
tl 77s IS, the difference smouoting to s533 ei Oui
laws justify the CLERK 10 allowing thu deduction as
claimed by the collector aud, IN fact, he has no
other means OF knowing them when claimed except
| from the collector statements.
| The returns, as made by the auditor, are correct
as calculated from the actual cash returned by the
Hector in accordance with toe d,sign OF our laws
by the clerk since he was compelled to estimate ~.
| letter Of the law.
| sueh Is the Ie,ut to which tse eumuti,s have 70.
uetantly come sfter the most oaIsu examiuation Of
ali sources Of informatlon to which they had ace ~
ju.hiyins fully the facts reported by the standing
| committee of the Board Of Aldermen dated October
| 5, 1907 aad referred to this o,m uittss.
By letter. dated October 81 1897, "a copy ofwhIehi.
appended the attention Of the late collector was
called to this large apparent deficit and ho was Ia.
| vt,d to give such explanation thsreofas he was
able. AeeOrdiOEy, in company with Mr.. VIM: King,
who was Invited to aid the eomTtttee and tho late
able throw any light upon the dsneit 10 his returns
Orto point out suy probable source Of errors
How this deheit has occurred, apparently begin
ming iu 1850 and running on from ear to year. aud
with no bond 10 secure the city from loss, as 70.
qured BY law, except for the years 1859 and 1885,
tent themselves with simply stating facts
By the charter Of the town It ID made tho duty Of
the Mayor In general to see that the law, are duly
executed.
By ordinance, approved June 1893, entitled "An
ordinaOee regulating the Collectors bond. and for
to ledge with the clerk, within two weeks Of his
elect on, his bond Ia the penalty OF sl2 OOO with
security to DO approved y the Mayor and Board
Of Aldermen for the flIhfGl performance Of his du
ties as collector OF taxes apd the lest day OF each
fourth week to pay over to the clerk the net amount
do, is made the duty Of the clerk to report the
fact to the Mayor.
The failure to comply with this law may have hap.
penod from the parties being 0nordnt Of their dues
under It; but much more probably from tho impres
| sion, which seems 10 have been general, that the
| bond for one year held coed and was binding for
| pylson was elected Collector, which Impression,
| however, Ia entirely erroneous
Wherever the blame may rest, and however 1t may
be Justly distributed, your committee have kestA-
tion In asserting that so large aad go continuous
dsnet could not have occurred In the tag collectors
returns II the law had forbidden the clerk to deliver
the tAr bills to the collector unless the eerk had
evidence that the collector had duly qualified ard
had miuutsly prescribed to tho collector a proper
system OF keeping his accounts In books to be public
property and open to public Inspection, and
with the clerks accounts, to be duly audited by
Joint committee on accounts At the end Of each nnSn
eial year.
An ordinance to secure this Is accordingly reported
by your committee, and also a proper book system
for the esrtieca'ion Of tar sales.
The present condition Of our laws relating to the
once and duties Of tho Collee or, to the transfer Of
real estate, to the opening and Improvement OF
streets, and to other connected mattsra so defect
i've that this committee woud urgently call the at
tsntion Of the Boards thereto, and recommend that
either this or tome other Joint committee with the
.sdiSn o. the hseordet be SppO'n.sd 10 tspSI some
Boards.
Since the repor. Of the auditor to this committee
October BY tn, late Collector to Mr. Laird, and the
credits OF which he did not distrlbute, $50 10 were
PAID BY Mr., sP.1idins on property sdysrtissd for
paid by VIM B. MAekall for annual taxes Of 1865 and
3l29 80 for street taxes Of tAme year.
Finally, the committee take pleasure in expressing
their obligations to Nj Edmoniton, and to Mr. Park
hurst, his assistant, for the care. patience and
raey with which they have discharged their tack,
and to recommend that Joint appropriation be made
them therefore, as also to the clerk for the extra
work the examination has devolysd upon him.
All Of which Is respectfully submitted,
A. rTBE,
JENKiS THOMAS,
Board Of Aldermen
Q. II. CRAGis,
BENZ, nAkDI,
wE. CLABAUGH,
Board Of Common Council.
RA Edmonstou, esq who had bseu appointed to |
audit the seeounts Of Mr.. Wsleh, submitted tho FOL
lowing report to the joint committee;
GBEILEHIS: in reply to the omnunieAtiOn kd-
dressed to BY your teerstary, Mr., Darby, notify
counts Of the late ax collector, would state that
have, with the assistance OF Mr. l. L. Parkhurst a.
oarefuliy and thoroughly examined the Aeeouu ~
the books and papers placed In my possession would
admit.
You will observe. from the accompanying papers, |
that the result does not agree with the clerk 70.
port This is accounted for from the fact that the
credits for deductions for the several discounts are
given only for what the cash paid In would Justly
eultle the collector to- The law literally au hvrle,
the clerk to give credit to the collector for tse fall
amount OF discount granted to tax payers without
considering the cash received and the collector
10 SLOWED by law TO hold the moneys collected for
four weeks, the clerk has 30 means Of knowing, at
the time Of giving credit whether the cash he will re-.
ceiys is the whole amount collected or will Justify
the credit. |
The ~ stem adopted, aud which the law requires,
were for the collector 20 render list OF the pc.
paying, with the gross amount Of their bills. Tho
clerk after making the necessary calculations would
then grant credit for the amount the bills were ou
tied to. |
We could not get possession Of any books showing
~. - IN tha