The herald., 1893-09-19
THE AUDITORS OFFICE.
INTERESTING TALK WITH CHIEF
DEPUTY e. G. WOOD.
Some Pointers About Keeping "rabs'
on County Anairs-ChsnEes sug-
gosted-Critfcism of Some
Expert Figures.

MT. II. u. WOOD, chief deputy IN tne
county auditors office, with reference
generally to the system Of keeping books
on the county affairs. and incidentally
the recent report of Mrs. @. B. Fowler
as expert of the board Of supervisors.
DIR. Wood has been in the auditors
Office long time and has good many
pertinent suggestions to make himself
with reference to bettering the system.
"In the issue of the HERALD of Sept.
12th," said Mr.. Wood, 'appears the
following:
THE expert finds many errors in the
county auditor and tressurer's books"
l do not wish to reflect on Mrs. Fow-
Ter, who made the examination and re-
port above referred to, as believe her
to be competent to examine and report
intelligentlY upon any set OF books. The
work she has juet completed OF bringing
to an exact balance has been well done
and required much hard work, aH the
business of the Office amounts to about
$4,000. 900 per year, and her examine
tion extendad back over two years, COW
ering the work Of three sets of "experts"
employed by the grand jury, as stated
in her report. OF course Mrs. Fowler is
not responsible for the publishing of
eaid report. wish some one would
point out to me one single item in this
report that is of interest to the general
public.
In the first place there never was an
account kept with the treasurer until
January l, 1891, even though the Hon
orable Aaron Smith kept the books in
1889 and 1890, who is now the "expert"
for the "Citizens Reform League"
In July, 1889, there was fund book
opened which was supposed to show the
exact balance In each fund from which
drafts cocld be made, and the difference
between these balances and the treeaur-
er's balance were supposed to be the
outstanding warrants. In getting these
balances it was of course necessary to
get all of the outstanding warrants in
and paid, but it was found that some
were still out, and as no warrant regis
ter was kept until 1889, 1t was impossi-
BILE to tell what warrants were outstRnd-
ing, and some of the differences were
traced back to this time.
Our system OF iesuing warrants is very
crude, and there are hundreds of chances
to make errors, but 1t is done as the law
requires. In the first place, the amount
of the demand 10 entered on the allow
ance roll after the board of supervisors
pass upon it, and one copy delivered to
the auditor and one to the treasurer, 60
that If warrant should be drawn for the
wrong amount the treasurer can refuse to
pay it. These allowances number about
1900 per month, and almost every person
getting warrant expects to get 1t the
came dav the demand is passed. We
have to number the allowances and enter
them en- the stub and warrant, date,
sign and take receipt for them and
fund them, which may be any fund out
of 150.
1t requires the greatest care to do all
this aud make no errors. With the
school warrants we issue about 1900 per
month. OF course these all have to be
registered, and in this errors are likely
to occur. From the register 10 written
up the journal, and if errors are in the
register they eurely find their way to the
ledger; the warrants are neither made
or registered by me.
After an item reaches the journal no
error can occur, as q trial balsnce ia
taken on the 1st of every month. To
enter each warrant on the journal and
ledger would require the whole time of
one bookkeeper.
The only common sense system OF
paying claims against tie county is the
system used by Los Angeles city. That
is to make your demand, and after the
board of supervisors pass upon it take it
to the auditor, who signs it and makes
the entry on the books, and you take
the same demand to the treasurer and
get it cashed. As it is, the auditor does
not see the demand.
This system can only be inaugurated
through the Legislature, and l have no
doubt it will be done ct the next ses-
sion. The 'reformers' and people who
are complaining ehould assist our legie-
ing the property and collecting the rev.
enue OF our county.
To illustrate this I will say that the
system OF paying claims above referred
to would dispense with one clerk from
the auditor and one or two from the
supervisors Office.
the apportionment appears upon the
auditors books of one date and on the
treasurer's books possibly month later.
L Will 5iLhPiJ soy pho t8CbbuiCi 10 htW
notified when the apportionment is
made and given O copy, and if he
chooses to post it month later it 10 his
own affair. AS to ascertaining If the
apportionments have been correctly
made, it would be waete of time as no
one can do it without being instructed.
AS to making the settlement with the
state in May when $10,90S 30 was re-
turned to the state on account OF an or.
ror being made in the controllers Office,
such is not the case as the controller
does not make such errors. II the ex-
pert will refer to section 1866 of the
Political code as amended in 1893 it will
explain. The treasurer also has q
voucher for the amount.
AS to examining the books in the
treasurer's Office of individual tax re-
demptions. would call attention to the
fact that they are not county books.
The money paid and entered in those
books is not county money but belongs
to the tax buyer and is paid to him on
surrender of tax certificate. The treas
urer simply receives it not as county
treasurer but as trustee. and as this Is
the time of retrenchment. l cannot see
how the county can afford to pay So per
day to expert the accounts OF tax buy