The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-03-02

Exhibit "a"
By reason of the fact that the cit!
does not keep books and account:
showing its financial condition the
accompanying statement of assets
and liabilities has been compiled
largely from data submitted to us
by the various city officials.
The books of a municipality, like
those of a business enterprise, should
properly reflect the condition and Op-
erations. We, therefore, recommend
that proper appraisal be made of the
various properties and equipment
owned by the city, and that these
values be spread upon the records.
AS the CITY grows it will undoubt-
eddy extend it's various public ser
vice facilities and add TO it's other
properties and equipments, and it is
desirable that permanent and read
lily accessible accounts be kept to
record the transactions.
Exhibit "B."
The statement of the Treasurer S
receipts and disbursements, present
ed in Exhibit "B," opens with adj
justments which have been made for
the purpose of recOnciling the ac-
counts of the Treasurer and the City
Clerk at the commencement of the
period under review.
The first adjustment, amounting to
$1,0S4.97, is neCessltated by the prac-
tice of the Treasurer in not record
ing in his cash book the payment of
Emergency Bills during the period
in which such bills are paid. They
are recorded in the next succeeding
period. We are informed that the
reason for this practice is that such
bills have not been formally ap-
proved by the City Council One re-
suit is that the monthly report to
the Council does not show the cor
rect amount of cash on hand, except
in some instances, where special
memorandum has been added to the
report. Inasmuch as majority of
these bills are approved by the COM
mittee under whose authority they
were incurred, and as payment has
actually been made, we recommend
that they be recorded in the cash book
on the period of their payment.
Should the Council refuse to sane
ton any of these bills, subsequent
to payment, it will be a simple mat
ter to adjust the books accordingly.
The General Ledger" shows these
emergency payments in the period in
which they are made.
The second adjustment, amounting
to $632.25, is necessitated by reason
Of the reports of the Clerk and
Treasurer at the close of the 1908
period being made as of different
nP
practice is obvious.
City Taxes.
The Assessors records consist of
two small books, one for the white
and one for the negro population.
They are written in lead pencil, and
are unsigned and not certified to in
any respect We understand that
these records are prepared from data
voluntarily supplied by such proper
ty holders as feel SO disposed; from
information by other property hold
ers given upon the request or order
of the assessors, and from the rec
Ords of previous assessments. We
are advised that there is no map,
plan, survey or other such record of
the city accessible to the assessors
upon which they could independent
ly base valuations and assessments
ON real estate and buildings. In
these circumstances there would
seem to be no surety that all prop
erty holders are assessed.
From the lead pencil records re-
ferred to the City Clerk transcribes
in ink to another book summary
of the assessments, but there are so
many alterations and erasures in the
original records that it is impossible
to determine whether they have been
correctly Transcribed or not. The
record as Transcribed is also I'M
signed and not certified.
We recommend that the assessors
prepare their lists primarily and
finally themselves, that they file a
signed and certified copy with both
the City Clerk and the City Treas
urer, and that the lists be open to
public inspection; also that such a
survey of the city be made by an
engineer as will preclude any posi-
bility of overlooking or emitting any
assessments.
Although the time for the payment
without penalty of city taxes expires
November LIST, there was uncOllected
at that time IA per cent. of the total
amount. Subsequent to November
1st a small penalty is added, the
amount of penalty being the same,
irrespective of the amount of tax
At December 81, 1909, there was
uncoIIected II per cent. of the total
1t may be inferred from these figures
that the penalty is insufficient to pro-
tpct from impOSitiOn on the part OF
the delinquents those who pay their
taxes on time. A penalty of 5 pei
cent. per month has been found eff
fective in eliminating delinquency in
other cities, and might be found ben.
eficial in Dawson.
Street Taxes.
It was impossible to verify these
collections in full for the reason, as
stated by the City Clerk, that the
Chief of Police had lost his book O.
receipt stubs, and consequently the