The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-02-28
City's Cash Deficit
 Set At $331, 2O8
(Continued from Page D

will be asked to undertake a fur ' Lher audit of conditions which will be used to put the city's accounts into more orderly shape with the payment of valid claims out of the surplus resource sinking fund. (The ? concern was voted $6,000 for the audit of 1887 accounts and the bill for the completed service was $2.- 829, leaving balance deemed suf- ticient to continue a survey of the claims and the funds available in the sinking fund, by charter pro- visionO
 5. Unpaid bills aggregating about $120,000 will be included in this last consideration although the board of finance, at the next meeting, will Scrutinize these accounts and the controller has been directed to pre- sent them, with plan to pay part of them out of the $137000, persent- ly available in the sinking fund.
 Tripp New Treasurer
 6. Commissioner Harley w. Tripp, banker, has been elected treasurer of the surplus resource sinking fund and will function as soon as his bond is qualified. The fund will be handled by the city treasurer as a separate item from other city ac- counts.
 '. Despite suit by a group from the Good Government association Of Waterbury seeking recovery of $600,000 from former Controller Daniel J. Leary, the Griffenhagen report fails to pace liability for the overexpenditures with the former controller.
 8. It was shown that the resource sinking fund has been used for duplicated appropriations during the years, that is. the fund has been set up in budgets for successive years with appropriations against it for the current and following year.
 Same Situation
 9. Commissioner GoSs explained that the fund was established in the first administration of Mayor Fran cis P. Gulifoile when the same situation as confronts us now was developed following a Republican administration. He was chairman of a survey committee which sought ito heal the perpetuated over-eX- penditures over estimated receipts.
 The fund was described as an emergency fund to take care of deficits. but MT. GoSs declared that the primary purpose of the fund apparently had been forgotten" :" MT. Goss referred several times to economic pressure on the city dur ing the years of the current admin istration, pointing this as the reason the fund had been used for other than its original purpose.
 Practices Criticized The Griffenhagen report contain cd particular criticism for the prac- tioeS as related to use of the sink ing fund. The audit was described cs limited" because a number of vouchers were missing and because it could not be shown how large the deficit for 1886 may have been, nor how much of that years and other years deficits may be repre- sented in the present deficit.
 The auditors reported that $300,- eco from the sinking fund was plac- cd in the estimates of 1888 budget resources, but they failed to see how this item can be included for cur rent financing in 1888" This was the contention of Corporation Counsel Charles s. O'Connor, who presented a supplemental ruling on methods of payment of the deficit.
 O'Connors Opinion
 His opinion related that the Board of Aldermen and the finance commissioners had been ill error in placing this fund as an estimated resource in the 1888 budget. Part of the opinion follows:
 The Amendment to Section 99
 of the Charter approved April g, 1887. provides that money in the resource sinking fund shall be used or appropriated"
 (a) To pay the cash deficit of
 the city.
 (b) To pay the floating in-
 debtedness of the city
 It is my opinion that the cash deficit is included within the scope of the term floating indebtedness. Any payment on cash deficit re- duces the floating indebtedness.
 It is my opinion that the board