El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-09-10
SCHOOLS
VALUABLE ASSET
Property Worth Over $780,.
600; General Audit by Ac-
countants Completed.

Although the enrolment was much
larger last year than that of 1928,
the expense of operating the city
schools was decreased $4,000 accord
ing to the report OF the New York
accounting firm OF crockett Couch
man q Company, which completed its
general audit OF the Sch0ol books
Wednesday evening. School trustees
and the teachers say that this savings
was accomplished through general
retrenchment which in no way af-
fected the efficiency OF the Fl Paso
school system They say the 1914
classes received as much attention and
instruction, if not more than the
classes of previous years
The auditors have been at work
auditing the books for several weeks
and were to have the work completed
Tuesday, in time for the meeting Of
the school board, but they did not
complete the audit untlI nearly
o'clock Wednesday evening. The au-
ditors paid a tribute TO former school
auditor Frank Z. sawyer Tor the eff
cient manner in which he kept the
books They. said that they found
only a few clerical errors which had
been corrected before they began
their work. The classification of &C
counts. they said. was good showing
the most improved methods
school Property Valuable.
According to the audit of the school
property OF Ell Paso, including the
fixed and current assets OF all de-
scri3tions, is worth S7O6.1 1850. Next
TO the WaterwOrkS the schoois are
the most valuable asset the city mas
from a financial standpoint On
Dro rata basis every man, woman and
child in FL PaSO has az snare IN
the school system
In their preliminary report ad-
dressed to the school board, the au-
ditors state the reserve for deprecia-
ton set up during the two years IS
abnormaIy large. The audit embraces
the % months, from july J. 1872, 70
July 81. 1914 The auditors in their
report say that the school books OF
the local schools have been closed
during the middle of the school term
and recommended that they be closed
in the future at the close Of the school
period, which is the logical closing
time
Recommendations Are Made.
Among the recommendations Of the
auditors are the following
Minutes of the meetings OF the
board be permanently kept IN a record
Qoose leaf or bound book in which
the pages are numbered consecuuVely
and that the minutes Of all meet
ings be signed by the secretary or Dy
a temporary acting secretary
The cash book and voucher record
be combined in one record with double
columns for each of the funds ana
only four or five distribution columns
The distribution OF all expense DC
kept on auxiliary records and proved
against the first accounts kept IN the
general ledger
Total school Assets.
According TO the auditors report the
fixed assets Of the city school system
which include real estate, bullQln5s
and equipment, are valued al 4S1l--
$685. minus a reserve Of Slbl, 1Ss-SO
for depreciation Added to TINS IS
S551.13 worth Of supplies and the e1-
act physical value of the schools IS
placed at 1851, 065-55- The casn on
hand in the maintenance and building
funds city and state appropriations
SIN 71ncoliected and prepaid insurance
bring the total TO sos, 1880 Inc
cirv of Fl Paso is indebted to the
schools for about $4,000 ana the stdt9
$1,000 The liabilities Of the schoo!s
is S23, 1872, which was deducIeo rom ION
the total assets by the auditors tor
more than a year the schools nave
been operated on a cash basis, the
first time since they were establls ned:
The manual training department OF
the system is valued at -sV--9'; ne
43I46 and the equipment at SS4.oso-SV-
Building Fund Expenditure
During the period covered by the
audit the sum of s39, 3S499 was spent
from the building fund, leaving PAL
ance Of S253.13 in the banks Inc
Alta Vista school was bullL uuI!h6-
this period. $4,000 went 10 enIaI Sl 5555
the present high school and S4v,ugu
was spent for the high schoo4 site Al
the Alexander addition
II cost s291,212-2S for two years IN
struction. which includes teachers sal
aries. text books and supervision .s eN-
penses. The maintenance 1uho ls 80.
3S5.7g and the schools are insured
against fire damage with policies az
areEgriug S-aJ.95N-