The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1867-10-04

1
GEORGE Hill, ia p NJ.
| BOARD OF ALDRRaES.-The Board met last night,
Rec rider Matthews in the chair, and Messrs Cropey
Hyde, hei.ton, smms and Thomas present.
Mr. hyde presented the petition Of James Goddard,
| granting him certain privileges Passed.
| The stIniiug Committee rspor ed the following:
The Standing Committee oiths Eoard Of Aldermen,
which was referred tho report Of the clerk Of the
corporation, dated August a. 1867, wing the amount
| Of taxes due and unpaid prior to January !, 1857,
having carefully eI. Inc said ststensnt. and given
the subject that importance enanded, greatly aug
mentsd by painful rumjrs OF miSsrpliestion Of the
| furds, beg leave to make the following report:
10 the early stage Of the examination the com.
mitteo addressed to Mr. wsleh the collector for the
| a letter, Of which copy Is herewith inelosed.
psn'ing the reply to this letter thorough exSmi.
nation Of the tax books -as made, with the double
purpose Of acersniug the correctness OF the clerks
statement and the ode Of keeping tbs books, which
are demanded upon for Information In case like the
prss,t
| Upon this point your committee Is constrained to
say that after the year 1884 the mln1er Of keepis
evca approximately what amount o. take. were due
| and unpaid for any given year
From $50 to 1854 inclusive, there was book kept
by the collector some one fr him. 1t Is presumed,
a4 little OF appears to be in his own hand ritiug
| In which separate account was kept with each tax
payer, which your committee deems proper but even
here tho erejit bore date, aud thus embarrassed
! the investigation.
Had thi. system. however d.fsetirely 1t was cx.
satisfactory result woGld havO bosl arrived a. but
that was not the case the contery, the books for
the latter years, In which tho prlDcpal difficulties
occur, have been go kept, and the entire mode Of
keeping accounts aud {" lCc!ipg aad paying money
defective, that II Is, so far as your committee
see, simply impossible for any one to ascertain,
with anything like reasonable eertaiEty. how the
matter stands
After the sssage Of the tax law, tho clerk delIv-
cred to the collector abatement Ell wing the amour,
Of taxes due for the year upon this the collect
proceeds to make his collection and make returns
against the said taxes which are ehsgedte- bis ae-
count.
Instead OF the eoilsstor's ko,ping an account
ag anst each ind yidual tax payer and paying over
tbs amount eolltced, less his commission on taid
amount he appears to have charged and received his
commissions on the whole amoatt charged out OF
the earliest eollectioGs aud this seems 10 have been
he common practice, though liable to decided OBJ.
eeions-lst because no collector should b, allowed
,Dissions on more than the nett amount paid 10,
and at the tho OF paying It In and I'd because In
receiving eommis-ionA on the amount y t1rss due,
he receives on the deductions allowed for prompt
pay ment and In case OF delinquency, as tn the pres.
ept case he receives omissions en- moneys which
never get into the town treasury.
In view Of these facts, your committee recommend
immediate legislation, looking to the correction Of
these impropristies, and TO the establishment OF
system Of count. for the collector, which he shall
be compelled TO follow, w
Assuming the taxes OF given yer to be $50 900, |
the collector pays against that from tine to time and
without regard to time certain suns OF money, and
simply enters the same In book, without showing
an account OF what ear such taxes were paid.
As further illustration Of the practice OF the col
",
aud which your committee aseer1alnet In the early
stage OF the investigation, your eommtee state for
example that the collector took from the tax Of 1860
tlS 6i6 "a and applied that sum to the payment OF
deficiencies existing In prior years as far back as
1885, aud in order to make good the deficiency. in
tl6i 8l TO- and refunded that Of 1865 pro tdRto,
In this in mediate connection your COMM tee re
grets to have to state that 1t appears from letter
Der u the committee the year Se5 is the only year
Except 1859, which very small sum 10 duel for
which the collector gave the bond req aired by law,
aud which the only year with that excepIiop)
under con .iderapp for which there was sgal tax
collector the election Of 1855, as will appear BY the
recorders Communication on another matter, being
absolutely void.
Your committee does not undertake 70 determine |
whose duty 1t Ia to sec that the collector be nds
were given and kept alive; but that culPable nesli'
genco has been allowed, to the great Jury OF the
corporation, 10 manifest; and It appears from the
letters that those that were given were
not given In strict accordance wi law.
II appears, from the statement OF the clerk, here.
with marked "B - that the jnnt Of teacit In the
account Of the late collector Mr. Welch is Sl37jl 10
In response to the letter referred 10 10 the early
part OF the report the tax collector letter dated
October q sends sundry memoranda, by which he
elaine abatement Of the above amouat, admitting
the deficiency to be marked c. I'll ,66S ~, mai
the dHeraneo S2OSI 4O and this consists later re-
cOneing tundry small errors which the result to be
gained DID not seem to demtnd the required labor,
Of tundTy items put down as small balances and
sums VIII ch he 10 admitted, entitled to credit for;
and thu collector in his letter OF October intmAtes
that he should have farther time Tor invsbtg alton
This the committee PROMPTLY awarded, not with the
OK pectation ei her side OF varying the result
shown by this report but chiefly to Ascertain, II
there Ia any possible way Of doing so, what amount
Of liability rests upon the collectors bond for 1855,
Which the surviving botdnAn says he will lilui-
ate without putting the corporation TO trouble or
ayaliing himself Of any defect In the bond,
Tho amount In default for 1865, after allowing full
communications as appears by the clerk q statement
Ia u 6OS6J but the manner OF keeping the books and
tAkiug tho taxes u one year TO make good the de-
lcency Of another eGectually defoat every attempt
heretofore made to asCsTa the actual amount OF de-
leency for tho year 1863 for which the corporation
,Ould look to the bOndsmen. 1t IL for this purpose
,lone that your committee deems further ipvsstigR-
ion desirable, and Involving, as 1t certainly will,
more tImo than the committee can be reasonably
upon to devote 10 IT, aud IN view Of the neees-
hty as your committee coneioyes, Of thorough In.
alton Of the whole system OF tax accounts the
appointment Of some competent person is respectfully
Commended to pursue the subject through all the
books Ct the corporation.
II ls manifest IRON the above statement that com
plets aud rigid system Of accountability should be
applied 10 the affairs VI the corporation, aud the
ado ton OF uniform system Of accounts for the tax
collector should be Immediately provided for.
Respectfully submitted, A. HYDE,
JESKIs THOMAS,
JOSEPH l. sIMMs,
Committee,