Montana labor news., 1935-10-17
County Officers Are
Praised By Auditor

Mr.. A. Z. Williamson, Second Assist
ant State Examiner, has been in the
city for the past two weeks conduct
ing the regular annual examination OF
the records and accounts Of the several
county offices and will be so engaged
for probably another two weeks, after
which he will examine the offices OF the
City OF Butte. In making this exami-
nation Mr.. Williamson audits every re-
ceipt and every payment that is made
through each OF the several offices, and
r~econciles all cash balances, bank bal
ances and depository securities in the
office Of the County Treasurer who is
the custodian OF the cash funds OF the
county and also OF the various school
districts. The funds collected and dis
bursed through the Treasurer's Office
aggregate in excess OF two million dol
lars each year and is made up Of a
multitude Of small items, each one Of
which must be carefully audited.
The office OF the County Clerk and
Recorder is the key office to the entire
county system of accounts. All receipts
and all disbursements pass through this
office, and the Clerk keeps controlling
accounts which afford a cross check on
the work Of the County Treasurer, All
payments originate in this office as all
claims against the county must be filed
with the County Clerk who writes the
warrants after the claims have been
properly approved by the Board Of
County Commissioners In addition to
this the County Clerk keeps the general
county accounting system which is the
only record kept Of the assets and LA
bilities of the county, and he also
handles all of the elections and keeps
the property records of the county.
These two offices are the most i'm
portant offices in the county as they
have complete control Of the cash that
is received and spent and certainly
nothing can be more important than the
actual handling Of the cash funds.
Mr.. williamson speaks very highly Of
the name in which these two officers
have been handled by Mervin J. Demp-
sey and John Holland. In fact he
compliments all of the officers of Sill
yer Bow County and states that he can
note a very decided Improvement in
the handling Of the affairs OF Silver
Bow County from year to year during
the past fourteen years that he has
had charge of the examination work Of
this county together with the other
counties Of western Montana.
To s"ubstantiate this statement, he
calls attention to the following compar-
alive statement of Silver Bow County,
which shows a comparison OF the in
%debtedness Of the county June 30th,
1921, upon the occasion of his first ex-
animation OF this county, and the in
debtedness of the county at the end Of
the last fiscal year ending June 30th,
1885.
June 3Oth, 1921.
Warrants outstanding
$624l78.45 $3.50, 178.45
Bonds outstanding
635,OOOOO
Total Outstand-
ing Debt $1,259,17S.45
June SOth, 1885.
Warrants
Outstanding, S 34,53464
Bonds
Outstanding, 335,OOO.OO
Total Outstand-
ing Debt ILL.,. 9,534.64
Debt Reduction
during period $~889,643.8l
He calls attention to the fact that
this showing was made in spite Of the
very trying times Of the past few years
and in spite of the fact that tax pay
ments have not been up TO normal, as
is shown by the fact that the outstand-
ing and unpaid taxes due the county,
have increased from $45,842.57 in 1921
to $472,6l8.92 at the present time. Had
tax collections been normal during
these years, it is evident that at this
time Silver Bow County would have
been able to hold the enviable record
OF being without any outstanding in
debtedness whatever.
These records certainly speak very
well for the officials Of Silver Bow
County and shows that the men that
were endorsed by the Silver Bow
Trades and Labor Council were emf
nently qualified for their offices and
have lived up to their pledges by Civ
ing the people Of Silver Bow County
the very best possible county govern
ment.