Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-05-02
Board Held
Up Audit
Report Affecting County
Clerks Office Finally
Made Public.

because In the opinion OF Chairman
Amos w. Harrison. of the finance COM
mittee OF the Board of Freeholdels, the
public was not entitled to them, the
contents of preliminary reports Civ
ing detailed knowledge of conditions
in the office of the county collector, as
shown in a recent audit Of the county
books, though they have been in his
hands for sometime, were not made pub
lie until late yesterday afternoon. 1t
was near the close of the session of
The finance committee that the reports
were read. and even at this time there
was an unwillingness that the public
should know what had been found.
Samuel II. Wenck the expert who ex.
amined the books, made his report "a
mf' Harrison sometime ago That the
atlef had no intention of making them
pubnc. even at this time. was made nlain
IN a statement at the close of Tho neet
ing when he declared that I'm his opinion
there was enough in the supplementary
report TO satisfy the public. The pre-
hnlnary reports. he considered wers
solely the property of the board inns
much as they had been sent to him per
sonaiiy. and also because OF the foct thai
the expert was not bound by any contra Of
with the county TO furnish these
In ms report Mr.. WenclS elaborates or
the distribution of the county flnances
and recommends that herea fter all banks
be made to pay at least per cent. inter
est on all county deposits. In his in.
Vestigation of the affairs OF the collec.
tors office, he also found that at one
time when the county had bank bal
ances of s2So000 it borrowed $4,000 being
compelled to pay 5ih per cent. interest
for the loan Of this money He also
reports that four of the banks who
handled the bulk of the county funds
did not pay any interest at all.
Another important item reported by
the expert was a series of vouchers
showing underpayments and overpay.
meuis by the collector.
Chairman Harrison explained to the
committee that several of the reeommen-
dations made ny the expert were al
ready being carried ont. In reference to
the four hanks referred to in the report.
he declared that the collector had suffi
cient reasons for allowing the exemption
from interest He explained that these
accounts were transient and for the con-
venience thus accorded the county, the
institutions were exempted.
Loan Remains Unpaid.
s1t will be noted lone report states
that a loan OF $4,000 was allowed to
remain unpaid at the Union National
Bank until Auri /. notwithstanding the
fact that the smallest balance IN banks
during the period, January ! TO April j,
was $279, ,72S. .21. The fate OF interest paid
ON this lonn was 5la per cent
Our experience leads us TO beheNe
that the proportion of the loans eonsid-
cred unnecessary and placed In the un-
coll
the exhibit Is conservative and ample
funds remain in banks after deductng
such Items.
This schedule demonstrates that after
allowing ample balances to remain In
banks the amount OF interest paid ON
temporary loans In excess of that rem
dered necessary by payment OF ap-
proved vouchers amounted during the
year ending December 81, 1911. to $500 10.
Ii will he noted that all checks are de-
dueted from the balance on date drawn
and receipts are not taken into account
until deposited in banks.
THE rate of interest paid on temper
ary loans during 1911 was with one eA-
ception. per cent, and the total amount
poid Sl0,917.15 During the fiscal year
ending May 10. 1911. the rate of interest
paid on temporary loans ranged from AZ
to 5Ia per cent. and the total amount OF
saving during the latter period ON TEN
porary loans exceeds $4,000.
Accounts in Thirty-fi Banks.
'.The county maintains accounts with
thirty-five banks aud trust companies,
thirty-one of which allow interest on bal
ances. The remaining four hunks, name
ly the Manufacturers National Bank, Ma
tional Newark Banking Company, the
Federal Trust Company and the First
National Bank OF Bellevllle have not al
lowed interest on deposit or balances dur
ing the incnmbency of the present col
lector
An examination OF the books shows
that during the incumbency OF former
Collector McGuinness sum of s6,5S7. 10
was paid to the county in less than two
years Immediately preceding his retire
ment as collector, for interest allowed on
balances by two of the above mentioned
banks which do not pay interest
"The average daily balance for the
year 1911 maintained in the four non-in-
terest bearing banks was s1S7, 1888 This
balance takes into consideration all out
standing checks. Interest at per cent.
on this amount is $3.50 a year, but as
the actual balances IN banks were much
larger than indicated above. owing to
non-preseutation Of checks for payment
on day issued. the actual interest on
balances NJ : per Ntlll. lOl tlt afdl fbhNu
December n, 1911, amounted TO not less
than $4,000
In view of the foregoing facts 1t would
seem reasonable and equitable to request
all the banks with which the county does
business to allow interest on balances.
All Of the banks allow interest on bal.
ances OF commercial accounts aud since
collection charges on checks deposited by
business concerns are very much larger
than on those deposited by the county
there appears to be no valid reason for
the nonreceipt OF the interest by the
county.
Moreover. judging from the records of
the past, believe the county will always
have on hand at the beginning of each
calendar year sufficient funds to enable
IL to place on special deposit two or three
hundred thousand dollars which 1t will
not require for disbursement until about
the middle OF May Such a time deposit
can generally be placed at three aud
one-half or four per cent interest