The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-11-14
MANY CLAIMS BEFORE BOARD
OF EXAMINERS,
LARGE DEFICIENCY TO MEET
Transportation and Care of Convicts
Proves One o. the Heaviest
Items.

InaL Will De brought to the attention
of the legislature when it meets in
January will be a little memorandum
from the state board of examiners
containing the amount of a deficiency
in existing appropriations which must
be met, as nc provisions were made
by the last legislature to meet a num-
Der of bills that are now due. AS
figured out by the clerk of the board
the total Of such bills amounts to
SAT, 713.O IS
OF this about $4,000 is due Conley
& McTeague, state prison contractors,
and only vel the sum of the de-
~ficiency in their case up to October
10. AS their account continues, the
amount will, of course, be greater
when the legislature meets. The date
given is the one on which the last
settlement was made with the con-
tractors. The appropriation made by
the last legislature for the care and
maintenance Of the prisoners became
exhausted over two months ago and
the contractors will receive nothing
until a new appropriation is made.
Then there is due something like
$4,000 on the contract for electric
lighting the state capitol, entered into
with an eastern concern. In addition
there are several other claims that
must be settled las the appropriations
from which they would ordinarily be
paid were exhausted long ago.
sheriffs' Claims.
1t is expected that some of the new
solons will be heard from in Inc
ton with the old question of the
claims of the different sheriffs of the
state for the transportation of pris-
oners to the penitentiary. Under the
law these accounts are claims against
the state, but for ONE reason no
legislature has ever made provisions
for meeting them as they occur, there
by compelling many of the sheriffs to
wait often as long as two years, from
one legislative session, to the other,
for their pay. The total of these
claims had accumulated with the
board of examiners up to November
Z was $11, 264.57, which represents the
cost to the state of the transportation
to Deer Lodge Of all the prisoners
convicted in the various counties dur
ing the past two years. The largest
bill on file was that of Sheriff Cleary
of Choteau county, whose claims ag-
gregated $2,4s4. The next largest was
that of Sheriff Hubbard of Yellow
stone county, .$~2,243.70. Sheriff Ken
Lcdy of Dawson had a claim for ST..
1880, while that of Sheriff Griffith
of Valley footed up only $347.40. That
of O'Connell of Lewis and Clark,
across the range from Deer Lodge,
was $617.40.
Whether rightfully or not, it is
claimed that many of the sheriffs
abuse the mileage privilege and some
times make the state pay really more
than is justly due them. The matter
has been made the subject Of comment
in at least two governors messages,
with recommendations that some
change be made in the law. In both
instances it has been recommended
that the state pay only the actual ex-
penses of sheriff's instead Of mileage.
In his message Governor Toole adj
vised that the law be changed so that
each county should be required to
meet the expense of transportation of
it's convicted criminals.
At Helena it is understood that the
board when it meets, which will be
shortly, may not recommend payment
of some of the claims of the sheriffs,
holding that they are unreasonable
and excessive because it is shown
that some of the claimants made more
trips than appear to have been neces-
sary. However, the decision of the
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