The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-08

Britain's chief traffic policeman" andria, pictured above, Is the bas, changed to conform with the new rules.
 One probable effect In most de- partments here will be longer de- lay in closing the books of the fiscal year than has been the case in the past, or possibly demand by these departments that bills be sent in nearer the end of the past month than they have in the past.
 Most departments have been ili- formed by the auditors that all bills ctargeable to the past fiscal year will be charged to that year, even though they are paid in the new lis- cal year.
 As a result the departmental heads will probably hold their books open longer SO that all bils may come in.
 The advantage to the public of such a rule is that 1t will get an ac- curate figure of how much has been spent in each fiscal year and the possibility of any charges being held over to the new fiscal year to give a better picture of finances for the past fiscal year would be eliminated.
 The audit may also produce the result of eliminating any obsolete methods, if any such now exist. As the same firm of Clark and Turn. blom has been appointed by the bor. ough board to do the audit for the borough for the new fiscal year now underway, 1t will mean they will probably make Q quarterly audit, which will result in less delay near the end of the fiscal year and such check would also mean quicker elimination Of any errors which might have occurred.
 Parts Antiquated
 The fact that some parts of the borough charter are pretty anti- quated now as far as efficiency Is concerned IS again brought out by the present situation.
 Monday night the freemen ap- proved & budget for the fiscal year which started April l, and the bor- ough board had approved that bud- get more than two weeks prior to Monday.
 For nearly & month and a half the borough has actually had no funds authorized to meet expenses, although such expenses have been met in anticipation of approval of a budget by the freemen.
 The only reason that approval by the freemen of q budget Is delayed SO long is because the charter re. quires 1t be done ct the annual free. mans meeting and sets the date for this meeting as the first Monday after the first Tuesday in May.
 Change Beneficial
 A number of departmental heads have privately stated in the past that 1t would be considerably more businesslike and more efficient to have the budget approval by the frcemen take place at a time no later than two weeks after the new fiscal year starts. possibly earlier.
 Probably one or the reasons that this hes not been publicly advocated Is fear of political results if a change In the charter were requested. Some political leaders feel the charter Is considered virtually sacrosanct by the citizens, or feel that opposition by the opposing party might cause people to regard the charter in this manner. So there Is much hesitation about proposing any such change in the charter.
 However. there have been !mpor. tant alterations in the charter in the past decade. One was the lnak. ing of the position of fire chief per. Manent, and this step did not lose any elections. Then . few years ago the radical" departure from the charter Of making the borough cleo. tons biennial instead of annual was taken.
 This situation was not always i1 effect at freenen's meetings. It was not too many years ago when free- mems meetings were interesting, and marked by considerable debate. But In recent years, the largelysat. tended meetings have been the ex- ception rather than the rule and freemen'S rieeting with more than 100 attending has been very rare. Whether 1t will change in the fu- ture remains to be seen. odd Situation
 It Is quite probable that chang. ing the annual freefnen's date to an earlier time would have little If any political effects and approv- al of the budget ct aY, earlier date would certainly remove what is now almost ridiculous situation, many believe.
 Under the present order of things, If budget of $l60,000 were ap- proved by the borough board for one department and the depart nent based expenditures for month ard Q half on this estimate, then ttat department would be forced to reduce very sharply If the freeinen should cut the proposed ap- propriation by e40,cc0. Such 6 re. duction would not be probably but it would always be possible.
 The indifference of most rest. dents to the affairs of the town, as exemplified in Monday nights free- men meeting when only about 36 attended, Is also axa occasion of con. cern by some.
 Periodically residents here get steamed up" about some things, some important. some unimportant, but when they have the opportunity to attend q meeting at which the viatliy Important matters of the tax rate Ind the borough budget are ot be acted upon. they do not atterd.
 Chosen PrOctors
 John Q. Donovan and Edward Raftery, both of Naugatuck, have
 = |" f' fF