The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1913-01-10
CENsUREs EXPENSES.
tice of Employees Hiring and
Paying Other Help.

st. Paul.-Two state government
branches, the highway commission
and Fire Marshal Charles e. Kellers
office, are criticized in reports submit
ted to the governor today by Public
Examiner Andrew E. Fritz in regard to
their expenditures of money, though
he adds that in each case the office ac-
counts are we'll kept.
Both departments are censured for
permitting subordinates to hire and
pay other persons for services and re-
imbuse themselves from the state
treasury, and highway department en-
gineers for hiring their own relatives.
The highway commission is said to be
very liberal in its allowance of eX-
pense money to engineers. The fire
marshal, it is said, has almost used up
all available funds by paying expenses
of arson prosecutions, when the
amounts should be paid by the coun-
ties in which the crimes were commit
ted.
allowance for expense bills for diff
ferent engineers appears to be very
liberal" says Mr.. Fritz, discussing the
highway commissions expenses. Il
notice several instances where an en-
gineer has been reimbursed for money
paid for the services of his own rela-
tives and the item for livery hire
seems to be exceedingly high. One
engineer is allowed $65.25 for using a
team one month, exclusive of feed
In other departments no employee is
allowed to pay his own help. The rule
that any one entitled to pay from the
state for work done shall get his own
check from the state treasurer ought
to apply to every state department be-
cause it fixes responsibility upon the
proper party for rendering true bill"
In the itemized statement the
amount for livery is s7,970.9S.
"The commission upon notion"
continues Mr.. Fritz, authorized the
secretary to audit and approve the
semi-monthly payrolls. This responsi-
bility has by law been placed upon the
chairman of the commission"
Mr.. Fritz declares that fourteen of
the fifty-three district and assistant
engineers have not filed their bonds of
$4,000 each as required by law. He
remarks that road inspectors, road
patrols and other employees ought to
file oaths of office. In the fiscal year
covered by this report, the department
expended $1O7,439.74, of which $14,-
096.74 was used for office expenses and
the remainder for the field work.
Mr.. Fritz states that the fire mar
shaPs department has exceeded it's
appropriation for maintenance over
and above the receipts appropriated
by the legislature of 1911. by using
up nearly all the balance of 1910, the
fire marshal is now in far worse posi-
ton financially than he was at the
same time last year." says Mr. Fritz
"The state auditors books gave him
credit balance of only $429.30 and
no receipts to be expected before
March /. This situation might have
been avoided by careful estimate Of
all available resources and by the en-
ployment of less number of regularly
paid assistants. The fire marshal
claims that conditions have been such
as to warrant the heavy expense and
that the result of his work speaks for
itself, but close examination of the
expense vouchers reveals the fact that
a great part of the expenses incurred
in prosecuting arson cases should have
been paid by the counties in which the
crimes were committed. Evidently it
is not the intention of the law that
the cost of legal proceedings and pros
ecutions shall be borne by the fire
marshals department
Il would respectfully repen. the
recommendation made at the last ex-
animation that moneys should not be
paid out by assistants or clerks for
services rendered by third party"