The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1923-03-23

/ II
ABOVE lO.UU
By County Treasurers receipts,
| same period --..--.--.-...--..-........- 76.CV
EXAMINERS NOTES - COUNTY
TREASURER
The records in the office of the
County Treasurer were found to be
written up promptly and neatly.
At the time of the examination the
County Treasured was carrying APP
prOximately 100000 in cash. This
Department cannot approve Of having
so large an amount of cash on hand,
as we do not feel that the same is ne
cessary to properly transact the bust
ness Of the County Treasurer's Office.
By carrying a large cash balance
the chance Of a loss is greatly increas-
ed, and especially so in a building Of
frame construction such as the Sher-
idan County Court House. Further
than this, the County is losing the in
terest which would properly accrue,
were this money deposited in the bank
as the law provides.
The County Treasurer was carrying
in his Office $1O0,OOOOO United
States Treasury Certificate, which he
had purchased at $1006O8.26, includ-
ing the premium and accrued interest.
This precedcre is in direct conflict
with section No. 4767 of the Revised
Codes, which provides that the Coun-
~ Treasurer must deposit all public
moneys in banks in his county and
there is nothing in the law which
would permit the purchase of the
above mentioned certificate. It is
therefore necessary that we insist
tint this money be deposited with the
banks off Sheridan County, or at least
that this certificate be handled thru
one Of your local banks by having the
treasurer deposit this amount of mon
ey with one of your banks and having
the bank in turn deposit the certif-
cate with the county to secure said
deposit. The entire transaction
should be approved by the Board of
County Commissioners. We realize
that this will mean a loss in interest
to the county, but nevertheless we
must follow the law at all times, and
the law is very specifcin this case.
Until a suitable arrangement is made
with bank or banks, the Treasurer
should most assuredly be placed under
bond of sufficient amount to cover
this certificate in addition to the req
ular bond as prescribed by the statute
The County Treasurer was carry
ing a check Of Chris Norgaard in |
amount Of S135.66, which was dated |
September %, 1921. Some disposi- |
ton should be made of this check at
once, as it certainly cannot be con-
sidered as a cash item.
The county funds do not appear to |
be distributed among the various
banks in proportion to the paid-up /
capital of such banks; especially IS /
this true with regard to the First /
National Bank Of brentwood and the |
Security State Bank of Outlook. both
apparently have more than their lust
share of the county money.
The securities furnished by the Sc
curity State Bank of Outlook were
not sufficient to cover the deposit bv
approximately 100000. Additional
security should be furnished at once
or the deposit must be reduced.
A great many irregularities were
found to exist among the depository
bonds as set forth previously in this
report. Many of these bonds are sew
eral years old and were originally
made to Rex M. Movious as Treasurer
Though these bonds have been cOntin-
ued from year to year and also read
to his successors in office, still we feel
that 1t would be much better to have
these old bonds discontinued and new
ones issued in their stead.
All bonds, whether personal or
surety, should be accompanied by a
certified copy of the RESOLUTION as
passed by the Board of Directors of
the bank, wherein they authorize the
officers to execute said bond for and
on behalf of the bank.
All bonds should show the quarter
ly approval of the Board of County
Commissioners. A bond might be
good and sufficient one day and a
lew months later the same may be
absolutely without value, and therefor
1t is very essential that all bonds be
submitted for approval frequently,
that the interests of the county NAV
be properly safeguarded.
All personal bonds must be accom-
panied by sworn property statement
OF each of the sureties, in oredr that
the same may be properly passed up
on by the Board. This was done in
a great many cases but there should
be no exceptions.
The approval of the Chairman
should be affixed to the bond itself
and not attached to letters, papers or
covers
The interest received upon the bank
deposits was found to be properly and
accurately computed.
The general ledger balances were
checked against the trial balance and
found to agree.
The district school petty ledger bal
ances were checked and found to rec
Oncile with the general ledger account
The official bond of the Clerk and
Recorder was found to be properly
and filed with the County
Treasurer. Eth S