The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-08-25
Board of Public Works.

This branch of the citys executive de
partment is in control of all improve
ments of the city that are approved by
the common council and the city
recorder is the clerk thereof and all
records and vouchers pertaining to said
board are kept by him, therefore he is
responsible for the correctness of all
contracts, assessments and other finan-
cial matters emanating from that office.
The pay rolls of all labor connected
with this department are made by the
recorder; in fact, everything of q
financial nature passes through his
hands. But in this as we'll as in other
matters, he has utterly failed to per.
form his duties, and the results in con-
sequence are set forth in Exhibit of
this report.
The board of public works claim
that they are in no way responsible
for any omissions OF assessments or
errors in same after the assessment Is
made and accepted by the common
council, and copy placed in the
hands Of the clerk OF the board. 1t
then becomes his duty to make out
the warrant and place same In hands
of the city treasurer for collection.
To avoid repetition of such omis
sions and errors the records of the
board of public works should be check
ed at least once in six months with
the records of the recorder and treas
urer.
The omitted assessments and errors
in former ones, as set forth in this ex.
hibit, have now been made and
corrected and warrant placed in the
city treasurer's hands for completion.
The charter provides for re-assess-
ment of all errors and omission and If
the records are carefully checked as
suggested no shortage in assessments
will ever occur in this Office.
The amount accruing to the city
from this source is S697.91 have also
included in this exhibit an amount due
the city from the county for grading
and improving SILVER ravine road. The
sum agreed to be paid by the county
when contract was let was the snm of
81, 020. or one-half the contract price.
Owing to the soft earth encountered on
one side of said road it was found i'm
practible at that time to put in the gut
ter on that side and the contractor was
released from further work after ex-
expanding $1,77S4S. The records of
the county commissioners show that
they were to pay 81, 029 when the con-
tract was accepted by the city engineer
which was done in August of 1897.
There is no question but what the coun
ty should pay one-haf of the present
cost, and statement has been made by
the city engineer setting forth the rea
sons why contract was not finished, and
asking for the payment at this time
Of one half of the amount already ex-
pended, or the sum Of $685.. The
city has In addition to the contract
Of $1,000. 90 expended over 100000 in
the improvement of this road, and the
county being more or less benefited
should have no hesitency in paying
the amount agreed upon in the con-
tract.
In the matter Of special assess.
ments for side walks and other public
Improvements made by this board, l
find in number of instances that the
board or clerk of said board has added
ten per cent to the assessment so
made in order that the amount so as
sessed will equal the cost of said i'm
provement, as the charter provides
discount of ten per cent to the as
sessed person if paid within thirty
days. 1t would look very much as if
this was piece of sharp practice on
the part of the board to get the ten
per cent back without the tax payer
knowing how it was done.
There is no doubt that the intention
of the charter was to give the assessed
party the benefit of ten per cent as an
inducement to pay his tax within the
thirty days, but by this method of as
sessment he paid the full tax. This
practice has evidently been abandoned
as I do not find the ten per cent added
| in any of the late assessments.
The law under which special assess
ments are made requires great care and
large amount of labor to be performed
by the city treasurer.
Why distinction was made in the
| charter as to the method of collecting
the assessments does not appear. II