Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-10-03
The Public Business ofBel
mont County
The Carelessness and LOoseness
with which it was Transact
ed under Democratic,
Rule.

f The deplorable condition of the books
and accounts in the Office of the Audit
or of this County, compeis US to state
that the public business of this County,
$50 far as that Office is concerned at
least, has been transacted with loose
ness and apparent carelessness without
parallelin any County in the State.
For our purpose, it matters not wheth-
er this arose from ignorance or from
intention, the facts remain the same.
Before a settlement conld be made by
the Auditor thisyear, he was compelled
to have all the duplicates of 1871 refoot-
ed, which refooting saved 5000. In
thesimple addition ofone column of the
books mistakes were found as high as.
5000 against the County. More fragrant
still were the errors in calculating the
taxes; for instance, where one man
paid $3.50, he should have paid s67; an-
other s. 90 should have paid $40, and
so on ad infnitum. Many men paid
more than they should have paid, but
in such cases it was found out generally
and refunded, while those who paid
| too little were satisfied not to make any
Investigation. In this manner the
County has lost thousands Of dollars
and all because of the wanton and in
excusable neglect of County officials.
The same looseness extended to the
issuing Of County Bonds. These bonds
should have been eonsecutively num-
bered, but they were not. In many
leases the numbers on the coupons do
mot agree with the numbers on the
1 bonds, and In some instances duplicate
numbers appear on the coupons. The
coupons never having been registered
land being irregular and incorrect In
'ttheir numbers makes it impossible to
detect the genuine from the counterfeit
coupons. Z ls'stisAii -
i TAXES HAVE BEEN INCORRECTLY
4 tILEvtED.-Last year the amount levied
{ on the Hendrysburg road fell short OF
meeting the bonds and coupons due,
lover 10000; and on the Wegee road by
jS6, 600; while on the. .Somerton road this
being the last collection authorized by
sllaw, there isadeiieiency of ever $15,-
loco; and on the Warnock's road of over
: Isl, 600. The Democratic Auditor and
Z Commissioners knew in the Spring ol
IIaes that they lad to payfor the bridges
{ and culverts on the various pixies out O.
the County bridge fund, yet they made
no provision to meet these debts, anG
they could mot without making the
levies for 1901 so large as to be op
pressiye and hence they STAYED off tb,
day Of reckoning; now that day ma.
come and the Democratic Auditor ant
Democratic Commissioners Zone, o
{ which is a candidate for re-eiection) ar
, responsible for $50, 900 debts ON thl
t County which nave to be,paid this yea
: besides $50, 900 Pike debts, and not /
! shadow of authority to borrow further
except for more improvements. Ans
this is the 'pitiable condition to which
: Belmont County is reduced by tht
I malfeasance of men ia Office whom tn
people entrusted with the management
t. lof the public business. It was to b
Expected of these men under thei
,loaths, that they would take. the, SAM
or better care of the public interests a
they would have done of their own un
der similar circumstances. The peo
pie expected of them a faithful and cor
rect collection of the revenues of tn
County. They expected of them
careful and economical expenditure Q
the same. They expected that justic
would be meted out between the citi
zen and the County and the Count,
|, land the citizen. Have these expecta
+ Etions been fulfilled? Have the publ
n interests been subserved? Have tn
}. rights of the County been protected
{ Has justice been done to the taxpayers
We invite you again to an examination
Eof the facts herein set forth. If 70
find them correct as you undoubtabl
h will, then unite every energy to brin
+ about a change in the management (
!. your County affairs. ~ a!
y