The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-09

THE M
Of sixty accountants was employed for a
period OF 10 months: but the revenue un
earthed thereby in sixteen months
amounted to ten times the cost Of the
system and its installation.
immediate Dangers.
Is The dangers arising from the present.
accounting system, or more properly alb
sence OF system. are not passed; theyl
are present and future likewise, as you
can see from the following facts:
First-The amount charged by the
city controller against the permanent i'm
proVement revolving fund, which is now
about to be replenished from the sale of |
$350,O0O Of new bonds. has at the present
time no direct relation to the amounts
spread by the county auditor upon the |
special assessment tax rolls to recoup and |
maintain that fund; so that there is no
more possibility Of reliably accounting for
this SS50,000. than for the s1,150, 900 which
preceded It, For example, the amount
charged by the city controller this year
against the permanent Improvement re-
volving fund for 1902 sewer, paving, curb
and gutter improvements is 243,14769;
whereas the amount spread upon the tax
rolls by the county auditor for these 1902 |
oS'SA' 70 SiA6, CulU ana gutter specials
Is $lS7 ,O57.O7. Under such conditions, how
can any balance be maintained to guar
antee the integrity of the $S50,OOO in ques-
ton?
Second-There Is no audit orr verifica-
ton of cost between the city controllers
off1ce and the city engineers office, and
as the amount assessed against AUDITING
the full cost to the city, the permanent
improvements fund suffers. Moreover that
!und is, protected by no asset and liabil-
1ty account; so that there is no guaranty
that the $150,0o0 about to be placed in
that fund will be better accounted for than
the several millions that have gone before.
Ihlrd-Moreover. after the special as
sessment rolls have been adopted and
confirmed by the city council, and after
the Two funds above named have been
charged on the city controllers books with
the cost OF local improvements 7on the ba-
Sis OF the assessments thus legalized and
confirmed, changes both legal and other
wise are made in these rolls in the offices
OF the engineer and auditor, and as these
changes, under the present lack of &C
counting, are not recorded with the city
controller. the revenues to be paid back
into the proper funds from special assess
ments often, if not customarily, bear no
relation to the charges against these funds
on the controllers books. To illustrates,
The assessment roll on one improvement
examined shows something like 100 de-
scriptions of property that have been
raised in assessme nt not far from $40 per
lot since confirmation by the council; the
clerk making the changes doubtless doing
1t in good faith, the ground that the
original assessment was lower than actual
cost AS the controller has no record of
this alteration, he cannot adjust his ac-
count to it. Moreover, as the court will
doubtless decide that the city must abide
by the original assessment, this assess
ment roll will be the cause of about 100
will be that the permanent improvement
revolving fund will lose the total amount
Of the rebate of about $40 per lot; while
the 100 taxpayers may be mulcted rs per
cent of that sum for expert aid in secur
ing the rebates.
"Fourth-Cha pier x. Section Is. of the
city charter provides: The city clerk
shall record all assessment rolls Of special
assessments in books to be by him kept for
that purpose.
Section 1 following provides: And the
assessment roll, and the record thereof
and sufficient evidence that the assess
ment was duly levied and the assessment
roll duly made and adopted.
| Now it is well known that the city
clerk keeps no such books containing the
assessment record. The rolls and the rec
ord are kept only by the city engineer and
county auditor, The cost of about 81 500
to make a copy of the assessment rolls is
probably the reason for not keeping the
additional record.
| "In this connection, permit me to ssug-
gest, that in Chicago, Detroit and a num-
| Der of other cities the assessment rolls are
now made In duplicate by typeWriting ma
chimes adapted for the purpose and these
rolls, instead of being on the narrow sheets
of medium weight paper used in this city,
and containing merely the name of the
| property owner, a description of his prop
erty, and the amount of his assessment,
| are broad, detachable, loose leaf ledger
| sheets, containing all the necessary paral-
lei columns for a complete ledger account
| of and history of the assessment in ques-
| tion from the time it was authorized by
the city council until the cash collected is
covered into the city treasury or other-
| wise accounted for.
Three Important Purposes.
| This assessment roll invention accom-
| plishes three important purposes:
! Firstly the use of carbon duplicates
four copies. If necessary can be made al
little more than, the cost Of one, and three
or four thousand dollars is saved in clerica
expense.
i "Second-The city engineer, the county
auditor, the city clerk and the city CON
troller may each be provided with a copy
OF the assessment roll in the possible form
and with exact duplicates which cannot
be altered without certainty of detection
"Third-The city controller, county
auditor and city engineer have before
them the same complete special assess
ment record as foundation for their
bookkeeping. It will not be necessary
for the city controller to duplicate the de-
tailed work of the count yauditor in keep,
ing special account of every individual
assessment; but it is essential that he
have the fpotings to enable him to keep
first, an account for each improveme nt
III not for each installment and second
an account for the total amount of the
assessment. neither of which is now kept
AS final reason for opening the ac.
counts recommended, the city now has
no system of accounting with the count,
by which it knows that the assessment:
eJen after being levied are collected b,
the county and otherwise accounted for
AS no asset and liability account is KEEP
either Of the special assessments or O
the permanent improvement revolving
funds. the city controller has no means o
knowing, and the city has not known TO-