Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-02-06
II COUNTY AUDITOR

A full text Of Senator Aliens bill
creating the Office of Auditor for Hem
derson county appears elsewhere in
this paper today and makes mighty In
teresting reading. Representatives Of
the present county officers have been
appealing to Senator Allen and Repre-
sentative Patton to pass O bill increas-
ing the salaries Of these officials as fol-
lows: Clerk Of the Court, from fifteen
hundred to two thousand dollars: Reg
lister of Deeds, from sixteen hundred
to eighteen hundred dollars; sheriff,
from one thousand to twelve hundred
dollars. The argument used in the
endeaVor to induce this change has
been the increase in the volume of
work in both the Clerk and Registers
Offices. These officers are now receiy-
ing fifteen and sixteen hundred dollars
respectively and the Sheriff one thou
sand. Senator Aliens bill creating
the Office Of auditor provides clerical
assistance for the Clerk of the court
and relieves the Register of Deeds of
the "arduous duty" Of making out the
tax list, thus relieving the congestion
complained of in each of these offices.
The Sheriff does not appear to have
taken on any additional duties and the
affairs of his Office remain as before.
The bill also relieves the county of the
need for a finance committee and
saves that expense. as the duty of set
Ting with the county officers devolves
upon the Auditor.
The records will show that hundreds
of dollars have been annually expend-
cd by the county commissioners, for
years, to have the books audited by an
outsider and this fact alone would
seem to justify the action of Senator
Allen and Representative Patton in
providing the county with an official
who can perform this service in con-
nection with other work that needs to
be done. The Office of auditor is found
to be profitable in other counties,
where the experiment has been ried,
and if the duties, outlined in Senator
Aliens bill to be performed by the
gentleman who first receives the hon
o.. are faithfully performed he will in
creas the county's revenue enough to
Fay his salary three times over. The
auditors in a number of counties have
caused thousands of dollars worth of
property to be listed for taxes that
would have otherwise escaped taxation
and this very same thing is going to
happen in Henderson county this year.
1t will be a part Of the Auditors duty
to see that all property subject to tax
alton is properly listed and that those
who have been Sinking the payment
OF poll taxes are brought to books.
We feel just like the auditors Office is
going to be a paying investment and
are perfectly willing to give the expe-
riment a fair and impartial trial.
Taking into consideration the amount
the commissioners have been paying
for auditing the books OF the various
county officers and the expense of
the finance committee, and
considering the saving of nine hundred
dollars increase in salaries asked by
the county officers, we are inclined to
the belief that our senator and repre-
sentative have done well by the estab-
lishment of a new Office which should
yield hundreds of dallars every year to
the honest tax lister and tax. payers
of the county.
In the act creating the new office,
Mr.. Henry W. Allen, well known
throughout the county as an effective
working democrat, is. named for the
position for a term of two years. He
is a capable business man and by
close attention to duty will make a re-
cord for service that is certain, to
Please the people of every political
persuasion. Upon Mr.. Allen rests the
responsibility of making the office
worth while. A fertile field is open to
him and we believe he is going to
make good"
T~&%~A1- - 1891 ~~-