Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1926-09-23
FINANCIAL
OF THE COUNTY
Audit For Fiscal Year Ended JuIv
80, Shows County to Be in Good
Shape
NO SETTLEMENT YET
WITH FORMER SHERIFFS
Assessed Valuation of Property in
County Placed at Ss,s42, SO5

An audit of the financial affairs
OF the county covering the fiscal year
July 1, 1925-June 80, 1926, has
just been made by r. Emmett Smith
Audit Cmpany, public accountants.
This concern audited the books of the
county last year, covering a period
Of four and a half years. a synopsis
Of which was published in The Demo-
crat on August ), last.
The audit for last year is not as
.voluminous as the previous one, COW
ering only one year, while the pre-
Tious one covered more than four
years, and is devoted almost entirely
to statistics, comments being very
brief.
About the only thing which meets
with the disapproval of the auditor
is the method of collecting taxes
'e. IS no. collecting when due,
ard letting unpaid taxes remain on
AK books for several years.
The audit is divided in to eleven
sections-A, B, c, and so on. Section
as comprises the adbstract of the tax
levy for 1925-26, which shows a
total levy on property, poll and dogs
of $170,407.54. The assessed
valuation of real property in the
county is placed at $S,482,8O5. It
further shows that there are 1891
poll tax payers in the county and the
dog tax for the period covered is
placed at 81 Psi
Section B of the audit calls atten-
tion to what he terms 'the very
serious condition of affairs which ex-
lists in connection with settlements
with sheriffs. There does not appear
to have been any final settlement
with any sheriff in recent years"
The previous audit showed Sheriff
/ j. L. 3e.ng ,.Ue the county $t4,-
489.3S, on which Mr.. Young is credit
ed with a payment of $4,000 and
a release of $38.37, leaving him still
due the county on June 80, 1926, the
sum of $6,451.01.
The old audit showed Sheriff C. M.
Crtcher due balnace of 81 ,626.91
on the 1928 tax book, on which he
has been credited with releases since
! June 80, 1925 amounting to S222.17,
leaving balance due for that year
of 81 ,404.74. That audit also showed
Mr.. Critcher due Sol, 1888 Sc on the
tax books for 1924, on which he has
been credited with $36,74S.S9, leav-
ing him still indebted to the county
on June 80, 25,0S4.77.
Exhibit BIS, shows net accounta-
bility fo the 1925 tax book as
charged up to Sheriff Farthing as
I $164,12O.23, on which he has paid
$75,232.4O, leaving a balance of
SSS,SS7S3 due on June 80, last.
In this connection the auditor says:
''No insolvent lists or land sales
have been turned in by Sheriff Earth
ing When such lists are turned in
and land sales held, the balance due
as shown above will be reduced
The auditor calls attention to the
necessity of having to borrow money
to meet expenses on account of the
large sums uncollected by the various
sheriffs He notes in this connection
that the school fund paid out in
| interest on borrowed money and war
rants carried by the banks of $6,--
1857, which, he says, is almost 8
cents on the 500 property valuation
of the county.
School Funds
No audit was made of the school
funds. Attention is called, however,
to outstanding short-term notes of
$4,000 and warrants outstanding on
June 80, of $49,121.70, a total of
$124,121.7O The balances due the
school fund by the various treasur-
ers is approximately $4,000 an%
the sheriffs about $4,000.
Clerks Office
1--WE made no audit of the office
of the clerk of superior court" says
the auditor, ''but in checking fines,
forfeitures and penalties paid to the
treasurer, we found the records of
the clerk in excellent shape and en-
tirely adequate"
Financial Records
The financial records of the coun-
ty consisted of the record of claims
issued for the general fund, list of
warrants issued by the board of edu-
cation and two books kept by the
treasurer, Mr.. Greer, all Of which are
Continued on Page Two)