The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-02-14

of the meeting held last night IN the
High school building. After the ses-
sion. regular business was transacted.
A motion that an order be drawn
for the payment of bills amounting
to $1.603.S5 carried.
Finance Committee.
Mr.. Dickcrson presented a plan he
has been advocating for some time
whereby the buying of supplies, pay
ment of repairs and additions made,
and the letting Of contracts. etc, II
yuperntended by a purchasing agent
or "A committee acting in that ca
pacity to be composed of members
of the board. lie said a teacher or
The superintendent would ask Tho
board for money to purchase some
article. The matter would be refer.
red to some committee with power
to act and action would be taken
without investigation. other mem
bers would growl a bit but ultimately
acquiesce in the action of the COM
mittee. The expenditures are getting
too close to the margin of the board $
allowance. He produced figures to
bear out his statements in the form
Of a sort of a budget of expenses In
the form of fixed charges.
Total available funds to Septem-
Der 1. 1911, $44,65S.19.
Fixed charges February 10, 1912,
to September 1, 1912, s4,3S3.S4.
Fixed charges September 1, 1911
to March 13, 1912, $46.350.
Due from the county treasurer for
.gs...
Showing that next year at this time
there will be $3.50 to meet the cX-
penses for the remaining months Of
the school year. BY going over the
records Mr.. Dickerson showed that
the board at the present time was
about 100000 in debt or would BE-
at this time next year.
Regarding this he said: Now H.
The time to call halt except In the
purchasing of absolute necessities. No
matter what the tax levy Is we can
not raise more money than we had
last year The city IL growing, but
the tax duplicate is not increasing
with the same speed sufficient to meet
the added expense" He again urged
the need of a purchasing agent or
committee stating that such an agent
should be in touch with the boards
finances, both present and prospective
and not allow anything to be pur-
chased unless 1t is to prevent the
closing of the schools or for the
preservation of the school property.
MIR. Dlckerson was aware that the
school system was not modern for
we have no manual training or do
nestle science and are deficient in
other departments. but the board has
not the means to install these things.
Clerk Briggs offset the deficiency
statement a little by referring to the
records and comparing this year with
last, This showed that the deficit of
the school board had been decreased
about $4,000.
President JacOby suggested the for
mutation of budget to systematize
the purchasing of supplies by placing
each article in its proper category
which will make the competitive bid
ding plan possible and save the board
quite a sum of money.
What l want to get away from" q"
Dickerson continued. land what the
b'hiu NhhAo " bNN away ii'i'' 20 w"
informal expenditure of money for
small things, of informally author
izing some one to buy without in
vestigating the cost, the necessity or
whether the money is available. Let
the purchasing committee say as to
the advisability of buying the article.
let the purchasing committee say as
TO the ability of the board to purchase
from n financial standpoint"
In order TO cut down expenses, Mr..
Dickerson had drawn resolutions for
refunding bond issue of the indebt-
edness of the board to the banks In
the city, which amounts 20 $12.50O.
The interest on this amount at the
present time is six per cent. BY
transforming this Indebtedness into
bonds means a saving of almost 2 per
cent in the interest paid. Action on
this bond issue and the setting of the
date for the selling of the $65,OOO
bonds for building the two new build
ings was deferred until next Monday
night when a speciai meeting will be
held.
The buildings and grounds commit
tee reported that the heating appa-
ratus Of the State street building had
been repaired,
Commencement.