The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-08

CD Rate books are mcompletc and do not in all cases reflect the exact status of the accounts"
 (2) Evidences of "kiting' re- ceipts were found.
 (3) Receipts, in some eases, were not deposited promptly with the city treasury"
 (4 "The collection of delinquent taxes was not prosecuted vigorously.
 (5) 94.3 per cent of the 1887 tax levy was collected in 1887.
 (6) Records of unpaid accounts do not agree with those of the con- troller
 CD "The provisions of law relat- ing to the postponement Cor defer menD of taxes have not been com- piled with"
 (8) Water rents were not billed in accordance with the rules of the board of aldermen.
 (9) There were many errors in posting cash collections.
 Q0 Old age assistance tax rec- ords are inadequate for accounting purposes.
 CID The records of the tax col- lector and the activities of the office are mot coordinated" in such way as to secure efficient tax adminis- tration."
 "No Interest Per"
 The report states that some ac counts were found marked, No in- terest per W. A. E." and "See W. A. E, It goes on to say: "The tax col- lector explained that the mayor was head of all city departments and that in certain cases instructions were received from upstairs not to collect interest"
 It claims that In several instances in which interest was not collected there is a notation. MT. Kelly said to collect without the penalty.
 In regard to "kiting," the Griffen- hagen auditors claim that in a num- Der of cases payments were not credited until several days after the money had been received at the tax collectors office. Stubs were found dated prior to the date collections were recorded on the cash book, it is claimed. The report states that some stubs were not stamped at all others were only partly stamped and some were stamped twice. Tn the above cases" says the report, "thc stubs, for the most part, were stamped with the receipting date of Cage No. g."
 Large Sums Kept Over Night
 Keeping of large sums of money overnight is criticized, the report stating that on one occasion $679, 9,00C was kept till the next day, and on another occasion $373,000 was kept over a weekend.
 The report states that penalties for delinquent water rents differed in a number of instances. It points out that many accounts listed by the charter commission in 1930 as hay Ing been paid are still on the tax books.
 6O,OOO UncOllectible
 "Over 60000 cases Of unpaid taxes are uncollectable, the report de- clares. It states that the tax attor. ney did virtually nothing" on de- linquent personal property taxes and said he explained that the tax collector did not turn over such ac- counts to him.
 The auditors report that they mailed out 24,000 verification nos tices on the general real estate tax The response was as follows: 12,. 100 were returned by the post office as unbelievable; there were 2,134 re. sponses; 10000 did not answer. | Of the 2,134 who replied: 755 saic the bills were correct; 327 said they had paid but had no receipt; 33I said they did not own property ol live here in 1887; 1l5 claimed ex, emption from tax; four showed re- ceipts of payment.
 2,064 Water Notices
 There were 2,064 notices mailed out in regard to water rents, witt 983 persons replying. Of these, 9lI said the bills were correct, six hat receipts, three claimed payment bS CIlcCk, 1A ShAO tAACJ AA1d PuAA bu' had no receipts and IS said they die not own property.
 The auditors claim that overpay- ments of $3,170O8 were erceived by the tax collector in 1887. This money has not yet been refunded, anc should be refunded immediately, the report states"
 The report claims that the boart of aldermen acted illegally in grant ing abatements totalling $3,96l .58 In one case, listed as church prop erty exempt" and another listed a billed in error," the report asserts that the aldermen had no authority to take such action. Tn regard to taxes of prior year! collected in 1887, the report declare. that $5,O63 29 in interest and Her fees was collected.
 Water rent payments were s6..