The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-08-03

ASSOiuiuS W llt COuuty CleTh > re
cord of duplicate tax receipts, the fonl
per cent collection fee on Delinquent
taxes amounted to $55S.32 from Janu
airy j, 1901, to January 1, 1908, during
the. term of office Of Treasurer r. f
Kay; and from January /, 1903 to May
i, 1906, during the term of Office oil
Treasurer A. II. Northway, the same
amount to $126S.95, a total of $1S27.21
during the period from January
1901 to May /, 1906, the period of this
audit.
DUPLICATE TAX RECEIPTS:
We beg to call attention to the prac-
tice now being followed in issuing
duplicate tax receipts for payments
received for delinquent taxes.
The practice which is being followed
is: To make the receipts in triplicate
at the time of payment, giving the or
iginal to the person making payment
and retaining two copies In the treas
urer's office until the end of the month
when one copy of each of the receipts
issued during the month by the county
treasurer is delivered by him to the
county clerk. The county clerk then
countersigns the duplicates for the
month, enters them in his books and
forwards them to the auditor general
Section 1881 of the compiled laws
of 1897 (Sec. So of tax law reads as
follows:
After the return of lands for
unpaid taxes the county treasurer
is authorized to receive, under
like provisions as in section fifty
three OF this act, the amounts of
the several taxes or any of them
due, and the board of supervisors
in each county may authorize
notice to be given to all delinquent
taxpayers so far as known The
county treasurer shall issue dupli-
cate receipts for all such taxes, re-
ceived by him, which shall be
countersigned by the county clerk,
and one of such duplicates shall
be left with such clerk, who shall
make an entry of the amount for
which every such receipt was CIV
en-, with the name and postoffice of
the person paying such tax, in a
book provided for that purpose,
and shall on the first Monday of
each month, forward all such re-
.ceipts to the auditor general, in
such manner as he may direct"
Also see the following note there
under:
County clerks shall never
countersign duplicate receipts in
advance, but must countersign
them as issued and retain one at
that time. There will then be no
reason why all the duplicates for
the month may not be promptly
forwarded to the auditor general
after the close of each month.
They should see that the postof-
flee address of the person paying
is entered on both the receipts and
the duplicate"
1t will be seen that it is evidently
the intention of the law that the orig
inal and duplicate tax receipts shall
be countersigned by the county clerk
before delivery of the original to the
person making payment, and that the
duplicate tax receipt should be retain
ed by the county clerk at that time.
If the latter method were pursued
the books of the county clerk would
provide a check upon the books of the
county treasurer; but by the present
county clerk not to receive duplicates
VI oil Tic IcCclpto IWniCn udu pCCh 10
sued by the treasurer.
It will be noted that the law requires
only an original and publicate tax re-
ceipt to be issued. The triplicate re-
ceipt referred to above for the pur-
pose of keeping in the treasurer's
office for reference an exact copy of
all tax receipts issued.
The original, duplicate and tripli-
81 l. 81 n II we
printed on them by the stationer. All
numbers should be accounted for. Ii
a blank receipt is spoiled by error 1t
should be cancelled and kept, but not
destroyed.
We recommend that there be printed
on the form of receipt issued: This
receipt must be countersigned by
county clerk"
Under the present system If a
duplicate tax receipt is lost before en-
try on the books of the county treas
urer the error may not be discovered
until the lands are offered for sale as
provided by law
RECEIPTS FROM OTHER COUNTY
OFFICERS:
We checked the amounts received
by the treasurer from the county clerk,
sheriff and register of deeds with their
books and treasurer's receipts held by
them, also the amounts paid to the
treasurer by justices of the peace, as
shown by dockets and receipts, with
the exception of the justices who did
not report to us as explained In our
report on Justices of the Peace, and
found the treasurer's books correct
with the single exception Of $500
noted at the beginning of this report.
We checked payments made by the
overseer of the poor, as shown by his
books, with the books Of the county
treasurer and found the same to agree.
We checked all payments made to the
treasurer by the superintendent of
the poor, for which they held treasur-
ers receipts, with the treasurer's
books, and found the same to agree.
The superintendent, however, did not
keep any cash book and did not retain
receipts for all payments made to the
treasurer. The treasurer's books,