The Sidney herald., 1961-01-04

claims. The duty TO examine uqul- .
dated claims is placed in that
board by statute. BY statute this
duty could and should be imposed
upon the state controller. AS sug-
gested 10y the council on page 80
of the report" Deficiency claims
should be certified by the control
Ter and forwarded ito the governor
via the budget director for trans
initial 30 the legislature. Requests
for permission to draw on a flu
ture fiscal years appropriation
should also he made the response
bility of the governor. Such func-
tions are closely intertwined with
budgeting, and were originally as
signed to the Board of Examiners
when it was responsible for pre-
pairing the biennial budget. Now
that budgeting is the responsibility
of the governor, such allied re-
sponsibilitieS should follow ="
The budget director act was good
legislation and is good law. The
only weakness obvious therein
would be corrected by these rec
concentrations of the council.
In order that we can better CO.
ordinate the financial operation
and administration of I'LL govern
ment l recommend that you give
consideration to the creation of a
department of administration and
finance as recommended in the
budget message. A number
of departments have their
own bookkeeping and accounting
: programs. With cutoff dates in
. many cases differing from those
of the controllers office, recon-
S Citation of expenditures and bal
: ances has been almost impossible,
e We must have a new and modern
manual of accounting with Specia.
sections provided for the universe
1 ty units and the cuStodial units
! Modern machine operation coulC
provide each department with {
monthly statement of condition.
h and thereby end the need for sep
arate bookkeeping and accountin:
sections within the individual de-
: partments.
Many departments have pur
# chased 1hermofax, mimeograpl
# and other machines which, be
/ cause considered the property o
that particular department, ar
used, in many instances, less tina.
20 1G% Of capacity. These machine
cost money and it is mandator
G that the number of units be re
duced and maximum use be mad
of those retained by placing ther
!, in a central machine DON in eac
!, building. They will thus be avail
able to all departments as needle
and the costly practice of eac
re department purchasing its ow
can be avoided.
1 ann sure most, if not all, of yo
II are familiar with the overlappir
L of jurisdiction between depar
Is, ments. Every such overlapping
l. jurisdiction is costly to the ta1
payers and must be eliminated.
The dairy industry is under Il
re jurisdiction of weights and mea
5 ures, which checks containers; b
dairy division, which enforc
standards; milk control board, e.
Iph forcing price regulations; and t
Us, sanitary board, which controls
OF censing at sanitation standards
The poultry industry is COVER
n ed by the poultry improveme
ne board in promoting welfare of +
&c industry; by the dairy divisi
Is which enforces the egg law; a
IN by the livestock sanitary boa1
-ao Entomology is under the jur.
g. dictiOn of the state entimolog
er- and the department of agricultu
7ry Jurisdiction over water re
ct with the state engineer and
IL water conservation board.
Conservation is practiced unc
Ivy the water conservation board;
csc grass conservation board; the S
conservation service; natural
ms source and development; and
state forester.
Lles We have a public employees
as tirement system and social
the cUrity; a teachers retirem,
ara board; and a highway patrol
ave tirement board.
nm Taxation and revenue comes l
DuI der the jurisdiction of the DO;
&C of equalization; attorney genel
90 secretary of state; university S
20. tenn; liquor board; highway CO
non mission; auditor; board of hea-
ing department of agriculture; C
todial units; railroad and pul
ell service commission; registrar
oed4 motor vehicles; unemploym
'lue compensation commission and
'oV- regulatory boards.
dp- Claim and warrant process
liner is done by the board of exa
the nerS, controller, and the audi
luIe One-fourth of the warrants
! II machine prepared; three -four
nate are hand-prepared.
De- This duplication and failure
TOT make use of the best procedl
per- is costing the Montana taxpa,
4 &c money. Money ill-spent in
oval area is denied those departmI
SO badly in need. l strongly l
are you to consider the recommer
ern- ton of tine legislative council
art we consolidate our departm
- into twenty; and the recommel
the tion of the budget director that
lries. have onlv eighteen major dem
srein ments. With sl1ch consolidate
ION DEPARTMENTS headed nv commet
is. l well qualified acknowledgements
'Asl- will have taken the greatest
LlC tOuvard o0"0nyarppaapf rffinio,,nx