Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-12-30
Township Accounts.


A correspondent Of an exchange favors
the passage of law requiring Township
TressdFsrs and Supervisors to make sworn
statements of their accounts with the town
ships, and post them in o conspicuous
place at each voting place tor the inspec-
tion of voters on election day. and the
editor in his editorial comment says:
"The accounting for the management OF
local business practically comes after the
Jurors have been called upon to render
their verdict, instead of before, ,as 1t should.
Every year most of the voters, when they
20 to the polls TO select public officers,
know comparatively little of the details OF
the mana cement Of affairs by men who are
asking for re- election; and when they DO
learn what has been done the year before,
it is then too late to recall the votes they
have cast for inefficient or delinquent
officers. This is evidently not as it should
be: and the need for such q change of the
law as will enable the voters to learn, q
reasonable time before election, just what
their official servants have been doing,
must be apparent to any man of sense.
But this is not the only amendment
needed in the administration of local al
fairs. At present bills are universally
allowed and paid by the officers who con-
tracted them before they are audited at all
Then, long after the persons rendering the
service or furnishing the materials have
received their pay and spent it, the public
Auditors meet to look over the vouchers
and certify that they agree with the DIS
bursting officers account. 1t is true that
in theory the Auditors have power to dis
allow bill or to scale it down; but
practically that power is hardly ever used,
and the bills are almost inevitably passed
as presented because it is urged that it is
hardly fair to make an officer refund money
that he hasn't kept himself. although he
may haYe expended it improvidently. The
result of this state of affairs is that the
auditing of the local accounts is practical
ly farce and affords no real protection to
the tax payer.
They manage these things better in our
neigbboring State; and our legislators will
dc we'll to study the laws of New York
with view to improving our own in this
regard. In that State the person present
ing bill is required to verify it, and it is
then considered by the local auditors be
fore it is paid. This system affords the
tax payers reasonable protection against
the allowance and payment OF inordinSte
or fraudulent claims, giving the auditing
officers power to contract the public purse
strings before the money is paid ont. The
wisdom of this manner of doing business,
instead of trying to recover the money
after it has been paid out, must be appar-
ent to every man of sense. The sub
sequent publication of these local bills
with statement of the amount claimed
and allowed adds further safeguard to q
system we'll calculated to prevent the
wasteful or corrupt expenditure of the
public funds. That the establishment of u
similar system of managing county, town
ship and borough affairs would be great
improvement on our laws relating to local
finances must be self evident to any citi-
zen who will reflect on the subject.
A DEMocRATTo member of Congress has
introduced resolution repeating the De
pendent Pension law and wiping out ali
pensions granted under it. That, il passed
would effect 100, 900 Union soldiers. On
Monday the Democratic House passed
bill increasing the pensions of the soldiers
of the Mexican war from $S per month to
e12 per mt nth. Nine out OF every ten OF
the Mexican soldiers now receiving pen
sions are from the South and most OF them
served in the rebel army dnring the late
rebellion. These straws show how the
wind Is blowing