Frostburg mining journal., 1908-08-22
BONDED lNpEETErNEsS

Water bonds. ..............-.....S3 S35. 900 OO
We further respectfully submlt-that pre-
viouS to the year 1901 : no record has been
kept of individual payments for water in the
space on the Water Register provided for the
purpose which would enable any individual
water taker to ascertain at a glance how hls
account stood with the Town in the matter
of his water account.
We would urge that these entries be in
sisted upon, as ii would show III which
quarter a deficiency occurred i'll any year,
and would enable the boudsmen of the Col
leCtOr to know what particular quarter was
due the Collector, and by whom it was due
and who was inSOlvent without depending
upon the numerous pocket mcmOrandumS
of the various Collectors, as is now the case
these being the only records of payments
which are kept, and these are liable to be
mislaid or ost as was the case with the first
quarter of 1906.
In any event, it is the opinion of your
subscribers that these memorandum or pOck-
ct accounts should be tiled i'll the archives of
the Town upon the completion of the quar-
ter or term of any Collector.
The necessity of such entry Is very notice
able upon ganCing at the records of 1908,
where the proper entries of credits have been
made as suggested above, and is the only
wear so recorded.
In the Maintenance of Water Account for
1906 the Town started ont with deficiency
of 500 - but closed with a credit balance of
S1I9 -. Il total earning of Sl,lll9i.
We would most earnestly recommend that
whatever earnings may accrue from the Op-
Grafton of the Water Works be applied to
the establishment of Il Sinking Fund to re
duce the bonded Indebtedness incurred for
this purpose especially now that the floating
debt of the Town was wiped out last year.
1t would also be well to make a canvass of
the Town to check every Water connection
with the mains, and the number i'll family
to establish "A check with the Water Regis
ter to see that all water-takerS are properly
charged.
If a deficiency is shown to be expected
then the only alternative is an increased
water rate or "A decreased cost of maintenance
The net earnings shown by the Malnten-
anCe of Water Account We're as follows for
the two years
l"O6-1 -1..................... Il lf."i
1901 bI-S..........,... ..........'...'.''. ZooN.o"
Total 81, %. 80
Increase of earnings of l9O7-S over
l9uj-7 Sl493.72
Referring to manner in which the Tax
Accounts are kept we find that no provision
has been made on the Assessors Book for
any credits whatever, as in the Water Book.
We made repeated demands on the ColIcc-
tors for the records which they must have
kept of the Individual credits OF the taxes
paid, discounts allowed, and interest charged,
and also requested same of the Mayor, but
they were never forthCOmlng-fo what rca-
son we do not know. On this account we
were compelled to take off cry individual
charge from the Assessors Book and audit
each account, and in this way only were able
to note the errors reported. The detail of
this will be better understood when we state
that there is an average of five or SIX ac-
counts on each page and about 200 pages for
each year In this way only were we able
to arrive at Il check with the total amounts
charged to the Collectors.
Some comment has been made upon the
length of time taken by your subscribers to
do this work. Confederation of this time
may he found in charge made for making
out the water bills for one quarter alone in
1906 by Clerk MetZger, which amounted to
SIS, and which Is charged on the Annual
Report as Books in the Water account
so and Corporate account SIS.
Very respectfully,
NJ b. TYLER,
ID. +. SHAFFER,
August Sth 1908 Aug - Auditors.