Arizona silver belt., 1891-05-30
Marieopa County Finaners. Looting the
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AHo 'ihHu ouIJ oi hdTlcOpa cOuDt' !! (the center of the statehood movement
 has the following to say of the extraya gant and unauthorized expenditures O the Board of Supervisors and othel county officers. which threaten tht county with bankruptcy:
 We have also examined into the af. fairs of School District No. l, Maricopo county, and find as follows:
 That an election was held for the purpose of voting tax of 5l2, 900 for building two school houses, that the same was carried by large majority that the tax was levied according to statute; that thereafter proposals were invited for building the two school houses, and that the lowest bid was that of Mir Sutherland for Sl4,6 ,680.
 That, after commencing the build ings, it was found expelient to increase the thickness of the lower walls, which was dono at an additional cost of Ssi7,Si. making the total cos; of the two buildings sl5, ,527Si.
 That of the special tax levied but So,s35.9j has been collected all of which has been applied to the payment of the biii'jine.
 We also find there is an outstanding indebtedness in the district of ST. l9i.66, of which slO, l66 57 bears in- terest at the rate of l and l per cent. per month. The particular amount of each rate wo are unable to arrive at. Nc charge of missappropriation of any of the funds bas bLen made nor has any been shown.
 In our casual examination of the Supervisors records, We find the coun- tvs money has beer and is being, in our opinion, most extrayagantly ex- pended. and if continued much longer will end the county in bankruptcy. Bills that have been reported by the District Attorney as illegal charges against the county, have been allowed and paid.
 We desire to invite the attention of the court to the case where the County Recorder has been allowed and paid the sum of Si, ,034 for recording tax deeds. Another where one Brush, criminal, was arrested in Oregon on a acquisition of the Governor and On which the county has illegally paid the sum of S56i. We request that the District Attorney be instructed by the court to commetce proceedings against the Re corder and Board of Supervisors to re- cover tho different amounts.
 Another charge we notice IS that the Under Sheriff draws salary from the county of slj0 per month as jailor. This we consider an improper charge for the county and suggest that it be corrected.
 Another complaint brought to our notice is that men in confinement in the county jail have been allowed on the streets without an officer. This shows a lack of discipline that should not be tolerated
 These are but few instances of ir- regularities practiced that the jury de- sires to invite the attention of tie court and taxpayers to Many others might be cited, notably that of the county hospital, where the expenses for the year 1889 exceeded $7,000, while for lS9o they were some Si,000; yet the number of patients for the two years varied but httle,
 We find contract exists between tho United States and the Sheriff7s office for caring for U, 5. prisoners at the rate of one dollar per day, of which the Sheriff retains 8 per cent and turns the other 50 per cent into the county treasury. We also find the county pays all jailoIs and guards in the county jail, and that the SherIf1s office is put to no extra expense iu caring for the U. s. prisoners.
 We also find by reference to expert Hirschfeld's report on Sherilf's office, made Jnly lst, 1890, that the U. s. paid the Sheriff office, during the year 1890, the sum of S3, l6i, of which the Sheriff retained the sum of Sl, 760. 50, as fees. We deem this on extraordina- ry fee, and not warranted by statute, and We request that the District Attor- ney be instructed to commence suit to recover the amount retained by the Sheriff.
 Thomas A. Edison says he is work ing on a novelty for the Chicago Ex- hibition. My intention is" he says, ito have such a happy combination of photography and electricity that man can sit in his own parlor and see de- picted on curtain the forms of the players in opera on E distant stage, and hear the voices of the singers. When the system is perfected, which will be in time for the Fair, each little muscle