The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-09-10
interest to the Parish that came to
nv attention while examining these

books.
| In examinihg the warrants as is
sued by your Secretary and cashed
bv your Treasurer, | fn0 that some
were not endorsed by the pavee. |
have investigated each Instance and
satisfied myself that the transaction
was regular and authorized by the
payee. | would suggest that you
require the Treasurer to comply
strictly with the instructions orig
iraliy given to him, that he pay no
warrant unless the same bears upon
it the endorsement Of the payee,
| made in person, or by mark with
two witnesses.
The Treasurer Of your Parish is
tx officio the Treasurer of the Drain
age Boards of this parish, aDd all
moneys collected by the Sheriff on
account of these special taxes are
deposited with him a. such. fud
that it has been the custom in this
parish for many years for the Treas:
| urer TO turn over TO the respective
Drainage Boards the money belong
| iup w cdCu III Ouc VI iuOIc Iulup
sums. There are no warrants or
! or other documents 10 his possession,
evidencing the disbursement of these
taxes. l call the attention Of your
attorney to this tact and suggest
that be render you an opinion as to
whether or not the Treasurer is com.
plying with his duty IN not requiring
these boards to warrant against
these funds in the same manner as
does your body.
| As these boards are created aod
their commissioners appointed by
your body, they are public bodies,
and the right of n-publicity of
their affairs does not belong to them.
| suggest that you require them to
render you al annual report Of their
receipts and disbursements, and that
YOU make the same part OF your
pubic minutes, which will give ev-
cry citizen OF the parish a perfect
knowledge of their affairs.
| OF the Courthouse bonds, issued
in payment for its construction, |
find that three have been paid to
date, two of which are 10 the pos
session of your Treasurer. Bond
No l, as well as all coupons No l,
are not in his possession, nor has he
any knowledge of their whereabouts.
They are undoubtedly in the pos
session OF the Courthouse Building
Committee or one of the officers OF
police jury preceding you. You
should at once take steps to locate
same. The present Treasurer was
not an officer at the time of the pay
ment of Bond No. l, and therefore
has no responsibility therefor.
l find that you have completely ex-
hausteo your appropriation for a
beneficiary to the State Normal In
stitute at Natchitoches, Louisiana,
for this yea, 1910, and recommend
that you eitecr make an appropria-
ton for the beneficiary, just selected
by the Examiring Committee, or
else notify him that his term will
not commence until January, 1911.
| End that yon a,arrying on
your charity rolls E,est of Nor
gan City, and WI d 81 personal
knowledge of the ,saess of this
appropriation, G. Cur attention
to the fact that all sach appropria-
tions should be made " the incor-
porated towns and no the Par
ish.
| | gave considerable ion to
your methods Of working. e roads
and examined each bill aud arrant.
find your system good az the
work economical. | would suggest
that you require your road commits
sioner to have all of his bills made
out separately by wards. This wo,:ld
give the Police Juror and the c;;-.' Z
zens of each ward knowledge oil The
road work done therein, and serve
as further check upon your system
In checking the settlements of the
incorporated towns of this parish
with you for the criminal tax, find
that a peculiar situation exists in
the town of Berwick. This munich
pality does not appear to be levying
municipal tax of 8 mills or less, on
the dollar, as they are authorized to
do under the law. but appear to be
collecting your 9 mill parish tax.
| The contract entered into between
the Police Jury of this parish and
the several municipalities thereof,
while RENTING the parish tax to
the tax payers of these munic,pall
ties on the condition that each mu-
nicipality would each year, out OF it's
treasury, pay to the Parish Treas
urer q mill criminal tax, and to
the School Superintendent 3 mill
Sahn0l Hnoc not one, r;..L.