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

any errors they would be either inten-
tional with view to cover shortages,
or that they were the result of careless
ness. do not now believe such to be
thecase, and am clearly-of the opinion
that he failed utterly to understand the
keeping of city accounts. There is not
an account or fund open on the recor-
der's books which properly shows the
condition OF such fund or account
AS an illustration I will take the cur
rent and other expense funds. which
are kept Tor the purpose of showing the
receipts and expenditures during the
year OF the several branches of the pub.
lie service. The tax levy for such ex.
pense is made in August or September
OF each year, and for past few years has
been In amount something like S35. 900
Ter year This amount would be di-
vlded INTO the several funds for collec-
ton by the coun y treasurer during the
following year. The recorder, as soon
as this levy was agreed upon, would
charge the county, or tax levy" as he
termed it, with $780, 00 and at once
credit the various funds with their
respective amounts, and proceed to
draw orders on this visionary fund.
No moneys would be paid 1 the credit
OF these funds until January of the fol-
lowing year, and then but small
amount. Not until Jdne would any
considerable amount be paid and the
final pay mentS would come at inter
walls for years thereafter, and the city
treasurer when the amounts so collect
ed were paid to him would credit only
the amounts as received, passing them
to the credit of such funds as in bis
judgment needed them the most, and
when the final payment of the year
was made he would even up the funds
as near as possible, but the recorders
books would show the full amount of
the levy regardless of the money re-
ceived. This system of entries to the
various funds has been in practice
since 1891, and annual reports have
been made to the council with great
regularity based on these figures, and
they amounted to about as much as
tending to show the true state of the
c1ty's accounts as a report from the
war department on the beef contract
would be. And again the permanent
improvements have all been charged
to the current expense accounts, eX
cept q part OF the new Fire Station.
At the close of the fiscal year the sew
eral funds have been closed into an &C.
count called Deficiency and Surplus
without waiting TO see how many con-
tracts and bills were outstanding that
should be paid from that years funds,
and the result is that one year has lap
ped over into another to such an extent
that it would take Philadelphia lawyer
to tell just how the accounts should
stand.
| In the new order of things there will
be no Deficiency and Surplus" and
there will be no crediting of money I'M
til it is received, and the permanent i'm
provements will go into the assets of
the city, and be so entered, and the
fiscal report will show actual assets and
liabilities and no guess work.
| Under this system if one could so
term it, system that has neither head
nor tail, one fund has borrowed from
another until there YVES nothing left to
borrow. Even the sinking funds were
taken to pay current expenses. 1t this
fund had been kept as the charter pro.
vides there would have been sufficient
monies in that fund to have taken up
the $50, 900 of waterworks bonds due
August, 1899. Instead the present
council have been obliged to refund
this amount into other funds due at a
later period. This provision for sink
ing fund call your attention latter on
in this report.
1t will thus be seen that the recorder
could not have understood the caring
for the city's funds in an intelligent
and proper manner, and that it was an
impossibility for his books TO agree
| with the treasurer's in single account.
There appear to be some matters con-
nected with accounts on the recorders
books which the recorder was not re-
sponsible for. One of these Is the &C
count of j. J. Gould for his liquor
license granted in December. 1897, at
which time the fee was 81, 900
There appears to be paid upon this ac-
count $500 when the license was grant
ed, and the further sum of $3.50 on
January 1st, 1898, the balance of $3.50 is
still unpaid.
Another case is that of. Otto Mann,
whose licerse was granted in January,
1899, for payment for which he gave
two checks of $500 each due at a later
date. The checks were evidently
given up, and he charged with the num-
Der of days in which saloon was kept
open at the rate of $1,000 per year, as
he is only credited with $45 and license
not issued. In the failure to COLLECT
the Gould balance of $3.50 it rests with
the council as well as the recorder. and
the informality, if any, in the case of
Otto Mann also rests with them. Dur
ing the years of 1897 and 1898 there
were three other saloons which ran
without licenses, although they paid
the fee.