Evening star., 1953-06-25

Star Staff Photo.
HARRY B. SHAW.
simple bookkeeping device mate
rials that might have been lost
or otherwise unaccounted are
completely ignored" the report
declared.
After several pages of such
criticism, the Ford. Bacon &
Davis report noted:
/. 1T is probably true that the
irregular practices of the &C
counting procedure were in
herited from former administra-
tions and may have been the
result of an autonomous one
man system"
2. Measures are now being
taken to correct the unsound
methods and practices through
the employment of Boyce,
Hughes & Farrell, independent
accountants, who are now en-
gagged in formulating revision
of the accounts. This is a step
in the right direction, and with
proper supervision by the COM
mission and the newly appointed
independent accountants, the ac-
counting department should. in
time. function as the accounting
department of a large municipal
water utility should"
Plans Budget System.
The Boyce, Hughes & Farrell
work is still going on. The COM
mission says that in addition
to a general housekeeping in the
accounting department. it will
adopt for the first time budget
and appropriations system.
TIE commission is justly
proud of its action in bringing
the two New York consultant
firms il tc tell it the truth about
itself. If all the recommended
tions of the two firms. including
the hiring of a general manager,
are followed, most observers feel
the taxpayer eventually will be
getting his moneys worth from
the utility.
The commission also Is proud
OF four things it says it has done
to save money:
1. Investing idle funds in Short
term Government securities
This has yielded over $4,000
in interest benefits since 1851.
| 2. Silort-term borrowing in
anticipation of bond issues. This
the commission says. sis de-
signed to permit greater f1exi-
bility in capital financing poll
cieS and to shorten the gap
between the collection of 'front.'
foot benefit charges and the
payment of principal and inter-
est on permanent bond issues. "
8. Financing purchase of cars
trucks and other rolling stock on
a flve-year basis. These items
in the past were financed from
the proceeds of long-term bond
issues, the commission says.
4. Shortening the life of gen.
eral construction bond issues
from 10 to 80 years, cutting
down 10 years of interest pay
mentS. ....
Safety Program.
Commission Chairman Ray
mond w. Bellamy also contends
a safety program he initiated
among the commissions en-
ployes has been a money saver.
Mr.. Bellamy, who has worked
as a safety consultant and di-
rector, said the improved safety
record has enabled the commits
sion to obtain insurance at a
lower cost.
Mr.. Bellamy feels, too, that he
has helped cut waste on commits
sion projects through his pc
riodic inspection tours. He says
foremen in the past threw away
such things as ends of lumber
and unused bricks. Now they
are being made to return them
to the warehouse, he claims.
Mr.. Bellamy also claims credit
for improved employe morale. A
former railroad labor leader, Mr.
Bellamy says he is able to un-
derStand the feelings of commits
sion employees.
In a recent speech, he de-
plored the lack of an elevator in
the commissions four-story Of
flee building at Hyattsville. He
said he demanded that the annex
now Delng constructed to the
building have an elevator.
The annex, he added, also will
have ladies lounge with a
nurse on duty. and "a room
where a nan can lie down or be
treated for an injury" In the
annex. he said, there will be a
place where we can show movies
educational movies-and when
Mary Glutz retires, we'll have a
place to hold an affair in her
honor without having to go to a
hotel"
II want to do things for the
employees because it is the right
thing to do. the Christian thing
to do" he declared in his speech.
Talk at Sylvan Theuter