The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1894-05-11

A"SoS inoah1iueCu dUUScs lOT SOWC LlnC,
but preferred to wait the action of
the county board and hear the expla.
nation of the officials Implicated be-
fore giving them to the public, and it
is probable that the Oak Leaf would
have also waited except in retaliat ton
for the goading Of the St. Thomas
Times.
But us the Oak Leaf has alluded to
the matter, it is better to tell the
facts in full, SO far us discovered by
the commissioners, SO that the public
may not be too much alarmed and
may judge Of facts rather than sug.
gcstions, guess-work or rumors.
The apparent facts as discovered
by the board as far as they have ex
amincd are as follows: There arc
about 500 tax-receipts of the ycal
1891 taxes, dated June LIST 1892, run.
ing consccutivcly from about Nc
$500 to No. 1000, that are entered on
the cash book under the date of Seq
TENDER.
10 those not familiar with county
bookkeeping VIC may explain the re.
suit of this sort Of entry. Until q
tax-reccipt Is entered on the cash.
book the county is not credited with
the money received, therefore, II
these receipts which are dated June
LIST were paid on that date, the money
received therefor should have been
accounted for at the quarterly state.
mcnt Of June Goth following. AID.
parently the balance for that date
were made and published without en-.
tering and counting in these 500 re.
ceipts which involve a sum approxi.
mating $4,000. This sum was nut in
the balances of the following (third)
quarter, as the receipts are written
up III that quarter. In brief, accord.
ing to the face Of the cash.book, the
treasurer had $15, 900 more money on
hand June Goth than was accounted
for at that time, and which was not
placed to the credit of the various
school district, township aud,other
funds. until September and was not
accounted for in quarterly state.
mcnt until October LIST, four months
after received; and the part belonging
to them not distributed to the town.
ships and school districts for three
months after it should have been dis.
tributed.
Another phase to these receipts is
this; while the stub receipt is dated
"Junc 1st," the entry is in Septem.
Der. Onlya few of these receipts
show penalty paid. Penalty on all
taxes comes due on June LIST, as per-
sonal taxes become delinquent March
LIST and real estate June LIST. Hence
every one Of these receipts should
show penalty. The fact that the
cash received for these taxes was moi
credited to the county until Septem
Der, is another reason why penalt,
from some source should appear
Every receipt entered for the thire
quarter ought, under the law, show
penalty.
Again, numbers of tax receipts
dated after October LIST, when a sec
ond penalty ensues, do not show an,
penalty whatever, or only in part Of
the actual sum which should have
been collected. Yet, strange enough
other receipts, dated, perhaps tn,
same day, show the full amount due
In one case tax receipt dated Oct
10Th showed the proper penalty, Will.
the very next receipt, in consecutiv,
numbering, with the same date
amounting to over $40. showed n,
penalty whatever collected. TIL,
number OF these cases precludcs tn,
possibility Of their being clerical or
rors.
There are some discrepancies dis
covered betweet the "originar' ant
''stub" tax receipts, which would ap
pear as though more money had beer
collected from the tax payer than wa
credited to the county. But the In
stances Of this kind are few, and MAJ
be clerical. 1t is difficult to get Of