USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1911 > Part 5
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ART. 2. In regard to selling land in Thompson's Meadow, Salem, as recommended by the Water and Sewerage Board. We recommend that this matter be referred to the Water and Sew- erage Board with full power to act and that the proceeds of the sale of this land, should a sale be made, be turned over to the Water and Sewerage Board to be applied to the sinking fund of the Water Board.
HARRY O. RUSS, Chairman, C. I. LINDSEY,
W. W. SEYMOUR, W. E. PLUMMER, FRED W. NEWCOMB,
HARRY M. DOANE, CHARLES W. TUCKER.
Committee on Ways and Means.
SWAMPSCOTT, JUNE 27, 1910.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[Jan. 31
Voted, to accept the report.
ARTICLE I. Voted unanimously to adopt the recommenda- tions of the Committee on Article I.
ART. 2. Voted unanimously, to adopt the Committee's recommendations on this Article.
Voted, at 8.10 P. M. to dissolve the meeting.
Attest : MILTON D. PORTER, Town Clerk.
Special Town Meeting, Tuesday, November 1, 1910.
TOWN WARRANT.
ESSEX, SS.
To either of the Constables of the Town of Swampscott, in said County, GREETING:
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify the inhabitants of the Town of Swampscott, qualified to vote in elections and in Town affairs, to assemble in the Town Hall, in said Swampscott, on Tuesday, the first day of November, A. D., 1910, at eight o'elock P. M., then and there to act on the following articles, viz. :
ARTICLE I. To see if the Town will authorize the Water and Sewerage Board to extend the water pipes in Walker road for a distance of approximately 500 feet beyond the railroad line to the road called Mountwood, and appropriate money for the same, as petitioned for by Charles S. Jameson and others.
ART. 2. To see if the Town will vote to change the name of the street now called Fuller avenue, to Greenwood avenue, as petitioned for by Walter A. Delory and others.
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1911]
ART. 3. To see if the Town will vote to sell the chemical fire engine, now stationed at Phillips Beach, and purchase an auto chemical engine to take the place of the old one, as petitioned for by William E. Plummer and others.
ART. 4. To see if the Town will appropriate an additional sum of $1,000 for the Fire Department, as recommended by the Selectmen.
ART. 5. To see if the Town will appropriate an additional sum of $300 for the Town Hall Department, as recommended by the Selectmen.
ART. 6. To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of $500 for concreting, constructing and completing partially constructed sidewalks, with or without edgestones, and covering the same with brick, flat stones, concrete, gravel or other appropriate material, as the Selectmen may deem public convenience requires, as provided by Chapter 49 of the Revised Laws, Section 43.
ART. 7. To hear the report of the expert accountant employed by the Selectmen under Article 20 of Town Warrant, dated February 28, 1910, and act thereon.
ART. 8. To see if the Town will authorize the Selectmen to appoint a town accountant in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 624 of the Acts of 1910, fix salary of said accountant, and make appropriation for same.
ART. 9. To see if the Town will petition the director of the bureau of statistics to cause such an audit of the Town's accounts to be made as may be necessary to enable him to prescribe a system of accounts in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 598 of the Acts of 1910.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[Jan. 31
ART. 10. To hear the report of your Committee upon the nuisance existing on Jessie street appointed under Article 42 of Town Warrant dated February 28, 1910, appropriate the necessary sum of money to abolish same, or act thereon.
ART. II. To hear the report of your Committee upon school- houses and school-house sites, appointed under Article 18 of Town Warrant, dated February 28, 1910 and act thereon.
ART. 12. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of $765 to settle the claim of Tuttle & Edgerly vs. the Town, as recommended by Aaron Bunting and others.
ART. 13. To see if the Town will appoint a committee of three to study the duties that devolve upon an inspector of buildings and an inspector of wires, investigate the needs of such a department for this Town, the cost of same and report in detail with their recommendations at the March meeting.
ART. 14. To see if the Town will vote to replace the cross- walk removed from Humphrey street at Holden's store, the Post Office, St. John's Church, Blaney street and the residence of William R. Blaney and appropriate money for the purpose as petitioned for by John Albree and others.
ART. 15. To appropriate and raise, by borrowing or other- wise, such sum or sums of money as may be necessary for all or any of the purposes mentioned in the foregoing articles.
And you are directed to serve this Warrant by posting attested copies thereof at the Town Hall, Depots, Post Offices, and three other public and conspicuous places in the Town, seven days at least before the time of holding said meeting.
HEREOF FAIL NOT, and make due return of this Warrant, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk at the time and place of meeting as aforesaid.
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TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS.
1911]
Given under our hands this eighteenth day of October, in the year nineteen hundred and ten ..
CLARENCE B. HUMPHREY, ELIAS G. HODGKINS, JAMES F. CATON,
Board of Selectmen.
A true copy. Attest :
RICHARD G. GILLEY,
Constable.
Return on the Warrant.
Pursuant to the within Warrant to me directed, I have notified the legal voters of Swampscott by posting attested copies of said Warrant at the Town Hall, Depots, Post Offices and three other public and conspicuous places in Swampscott on Friday, the twenty-first day of October, 1910. The posting of said notices being at least seven days before the time of said meeting.
RICHARD G. GILLEY, Constable.
Meeting called to order at 8 o'clock P. M. by the Moderator, Mr. H. O. Russ, Chairman of Ways and Means Committee read and submitted the following report upon Articles in the Warrant.
Committee on Ways and Means.
TOWN WARRANT.
ARTICLE I. To authorize the Water and Sewerage Board to extend water pipes in Walker road for a distance approximately five hundred feet beyond the Railroad line to the road called Mountwood, and appropriate necessary money, as petitioned for by Charles S. Jameson and others. We recommend that this matter be left in the hands of the Water and Sewerage Board with the understanding that that Board execute with Mr.
6
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
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Jameson or others an agreement similar to the one made with Mr. Henry E. Lodge on Little's Point, and that the sum of $700 be appropriated for the work ; that the Town Treasurer be authorized to issue a note or notes of the Town, with the approval of the Selectmen, for the purpose of raising the re- quired $700.
ART. 3. With reference to selling the chemical fire engine stationed at Phillips Beach and replacing it with an auto chem- ical. From the investigation possible in the limited time this Committee has had to consider the matter, we believe it to be good policy to provide the Town with an auto chemical. We are, however, unwilling to advocate the purchase of such ap- paratus at this time, believing the interests of the town would be better served by appointment, at this meeting, by the Moderator, of a Committee of three, which shall be empowered to investi- gate the question further and report fully their findings at the regular Annual Meeting in March next.
ART. 4. To appropriate $1,000 for the Fire Department, in addition to the amount already at its disposal. We are informed that of the $9,500 requested last year by the Fire Department but $9,200 was granted, but that no corresponding decrease in expenses has been found possible. In addition, owing to in- creases in salaries and expenses on account of new fire whistle, etc., it is foreseen that the Department will be obliged to have more money to carry it through until the March meeting. We recommend that this amount be placed at the disposal of the Department and that the Town Treasurer be authorized to issue a note or notes of the Town, with the approval of the Selectmen, for the purpose of raising the necessary $1,000.
ART. 5. To appropriate $300, in addition to the sum already in the hands of the Selectmen for use in the Town Hall Depart- ment. Of the $2,000 and receipts asked for, for this Depart- ment last March, but $1,400 and receipts were voted. Custom- ary and regular expenses now make it necessary that an additional $300 be furnished to cover expenses between now and the next
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TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS.
1911]
annual Town Meeting. We recommend that this amount be placed at the disposal of the Town Hall Department and that the Town Treasurer be authorized to issue a note or notes of the Town, with the approval of the Selectmen, for the purpose of raising the amount called for, namely $300.
ART. 6. Calling for an appropriation of $500 for sidewalk work. We recommend that this amount be placed at the dis- posal of the Selectmen's Department for the purpose specified, with the further recommendation that in the construction of new sidewalk work, the material selected be of a nature more per- manent than the form of tar concrete at present employed.
ART. S. To see if the Town will authorize the Selectmen to appoint a Town Accountant in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 624 of the Acts of 1910, fix the salary of said Accountant and make an appropriation. Our present Account- ant is appointed yearly at an annual rate of $550. As there is at present no definite means of knowing how much time would be required of an accountant under the new state law, which goes into effect February Ist, and as the time from then until the March meeting is so short, we recommend that the present rate as a fixed salary be adhered to and that the Accountant in per- forming such new duties as are required after February Ist, keep account of the time required to do his work over that necessary under the present system, and render a bill for such overtime at the annual March meeting. It would then be possible to fix a definite and fair salary with a better under- standing of what is required than to at present settle on any definite sum.
ART. 10. With reference to existing nuisance on Jessie street. In view of the report of the special Committee on this subject, as furnished to the Committee on Ways and Means, we recommend that the sum of $500 be appropriated to properly drain the section in question and that the same be placed at the disposal of the Surveyor of Highways, to be expended for this purpose, provided it is found possible to execute with the owners
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[Jan. 31
of certain private land in the vicinity, a written agreement absolving the Town from any question of damages in con- sequence of disposing of the matter in the manner outlined.
ART. 12. To appropriate $765 to settle the claim of Tuttle & Edgerly against the Town. This appears to be a very old matter and one that should be acted upon at the regular March Meeting rather than at a Special Meeting. We recom- mend that this article be postponed, affording the petitioners opportunity for bringing the matter up at the Annual Town Meeting.
ART. 14. With reference to replacing certain crosswalks previously removed from Humphrey street and appropriate necessary money therefor. These crosswalks were removed by direction of the Surveyor of Highways which action is in line with the practice of the Massachusetts Highway Commission on roads with a macadam surface similar to the section of Humphrey street in question. The change was made last spring and even if the argument of the petitioners that crossing the street during the winter is to be a difficult and uncomfortable matter, were true, this has not yet been demonstrated. In view of the fact that the removal of the crossings was, in the opinion of the Highway Surveyor, in the nature of an improvement, it is our opinion that a practical demonstration of the present conditions should be permitted before undertaking the expense necessary to replace the crosswalks. It is estimated that the cost of replace- ment would be in the neighborhood of $600 to $700. There are many streets in this Town not at present supplied with cross- walks, where conditions are worse than at the points covered by the article and we believe it unwise to do as requested by the petitioners. We recommend that consideration of this article be indefinitely postponed.
ART. 15. We recommend that the following be fixed as the particulars of the note to be issued by the Town under votes of the Town of this date, namely :
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TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS.
1911]
Under Article 1, $700. For extension of water pipe in Walker road.
Under Article 4, $1,000. For Fire Department.
Under Article 5, $300. For Town Hall Department.
Under Article 6, $500. For Sidewalk work.
Under Article 10, $500. For Highway Department the total being $3,000. That the Town issue its note to the amount of $3,000, dated November 1, 1910, maturing November 1, 1911, with interest at not exceeding 42 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually. The note shall be signed by the Town Treasurer and countersigned by the Selectmen and shall be authenticated by the Old Colony Trust Company of Boston. The principal and interest shall be payable at the Town Treasurer's office or at such Boston Trust Company or Bank as the Town Treasurer and the Selectmen designate. It shall be called Town of Swampscott Miscellaneous Note, 1910. All other particulars as to the form, issuance and sale of this note shall be determined by the Town Treasurer and the Selectmen but the note shall not be sold at less than par and interset.
HARRY O. RUSS, W. W. SEYMOUR, WILLIAM E. PLUMMER, HARRY M. DOANE, C. IRVING LINDSEY, CHARLES W. TUCKER. FRED W. NEWCOMB,
Committee on Ways and Means.
SWAMPSCOTT, November 1, 1910.
Filed with the Town Clerk, November 1, 1910.
MILTON D. PORTER,
Town Clerk.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[Jan. 31
Voted, that the report be accepted and placed on file.
ARTICLE I. Voted unanimously to adopt the report of the Committeee on this Article.
ART. 2. Voted, that name of Fuller avenue be changed and hereafter known as Greenwood avenue, as petitioned for in this Article.
ART. 3. Voted to refer back to Ways and Means, they to report at next March Meeting, or before.
ARTS. 4 and 5. Voted unanimously to adopt the Committee's report on these Articles.
ART. 6. Voted, unanimously to adopt the Committee's report that the appropriation of $500 be placed at disposal of the Select- men the work to be done as in the past.
ART. 7. The following report of the expert Accountant was read by the Clerk.
May 31, 1910. To the Board of Selectmen, Town of Swampscott, Mass. :
DEAR SIRS,-In accordance with your orders I have examined the books, accounts and vouchers of the Town of Swampscott for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1910, for the purpose of verifying the figures of the Annual Report.
I submit herewith a certificate of my findings, and a memo- randum setting forth the scope of my examination and comments on the condition and arrangement of the accounts as they have been kept by the various Town officials.
I submit also two schedules :
Schedule I, Irregular and Missing Vouchers :
Schedule 2, Errors and Omissions.
In order to verify the cash in the hands of the Treasurer as of January 31, 1910, it was necessary to check the receipts and disbursements from February 1, 1909 to May 19, 1910. The
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TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS.
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funds then in the hands of the Treasurer were found to be short $5.46 of the sum required, this discrepancy appearing to result from clerical errors.
I hereby certify :
I. That subject to the foregoing qualification, all funds shown to have been received by the Treasurer, have been accounted for ; and that I have found practically. all his disbursements supported by proper vouchers, except those listed on Schedule I. I have, however, satisfied myself that these disbursements were properly made.
2. That subject to the foregoing qualification, the balances of cash on January 31, 1910, held in the General Account, Water Account, Sewer Account and various Trust Funds, as shown by the Annual Report, were on hand as of that date.
3. That all funds shown to have been received by the Trustees of the Sinking Fund have been accounted for : and that the securities and cash on January 31, 1910, as shown by the Annual Report, were on hand as of that date.
Very respectfully,
C. C. BARON, Certified Public Accountant.
Scope of Examination.
My examination of the accounts has covered not only the finding of proper vouchers for the disbursements, but also the verification - as far as possible - of the entry on the books of the Treasurer of all funds which should have been received by him.
During the year under examination the Treasurer has dis- bursed over $450,000. With the exception of a few small amounts, as listed on Schedule 1, vouchers have been found for the whole of this sum.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[Jan. 31
Each voucher has been examined not only for the receipt of the payee, but also to see that it had been approved for payment by the proper authority. The records were examined to deter- mine who were the proper officials to prove the vouchers for the various disbursements, and, with a few exceptions, I have found all vouchers approved by the proper parties. In cases in which the approvals were either irregular or missing (Schedule I), the disbursements appear to be proper and ordinary expenses.
I have verified the amounts shown by the Treasurer as having been received from taxes, by the examination of the tax ledgers ; and have verified the amount of taxes remaining uncollected.
The receipts of the Treasurer from the Water Department have been checked with the records of that department.
The Treasurer's receipts of other commercial revenue, and collections of various kinds, have been verified by comparison with the records of the Sewer Department, Highway Depart- ment, Police Department, Town Clerk, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, District Court, and other sources of information, except as shown on Schedule 2.
I have also seen that the proper amount of income from trust funds has been carried to the credit of the various trust accounts.
Explanation and Comments.
The accounts of the Town are kept on the same system that has been in use for some years, and while it may have been suf- ficient for the needs of the Town at the time it was introduced, it is entirely inadequate to record properly the transactions of a town the present size of Swampscott.
Considering the character of some of the methods, and the almost total absence of internal checks, the accounts are remark- ably free from clerical errors.
Attention is called to certain defects of the accounting system, not for the purpose of criticising the work of the Town officers but to point out the fundamental objection to the system, viz., that there is no general ledger to furnish the information neces- sary for a statement of the actual assets and liabilities of the Town at the close of the fiscal year, or of its true income and expenses.
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TOWN CLERK'S RECORDS.
1911]
Up to a few years ago the accounts of most towns in this country were kept on practically the same general system that is in use in Swampscott, and even now there are comparatively few municipalities which have adopted modern methods.
In 1894 the National Municipal League was organized, having for its object, among other things, " to promote the thorough investigation and discussion of the conditions and details of civic administration." Under the auspices of this organization aided by the Bureau of the Census at Washington, a great deal of attention has been given to the subject of municipal accounts by municipal officials, and a system of " Uniform Accounting " has been devised which was first adopted by law in the State of Ohio, and by a large number of cities and towns in other parts of the country. In 1906 the Legislature of this State passed the law requiring cities and towns to furnish uniform annual returns to the Bureau of Statistics, and legislation is now pending which will require the installation of uniform systems in order to show the true operating cost of towns and whether their expenses are within their incomes, etc.
Receipts and Disbursements.
Again following the ordinary municipal practice, the accounts of the Town record simply the amount of money which actually came into the possession of the Treasurer, and the amount of the disbursements approved for payment during any given period.
Outside of municipal accounting it is universally conceded that the income and expenses properly belonging to each period should be shown-whether the money has actually been received and disbursed or not. Within the last few years some of the more advanced municipalities have applied this principle to their accounts. and the desirability of this treatment will eventually be universally recognized.
The receipts of any given year, which are shown in the accounts of the Town, include a large amount of taxes and various other items of income properly belonging to preceding years, as well as funds received from the sale of bonds and from temporary loans.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
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The disbursements include expenses belonging to prior periods and omit all expenses of the year in question which have not actually been paid at the date of the closing of the books for that year. They also include payments made for the cost of public improvements and buildings-the funds for which are provided from the sale of bonds, and not from the ordinary revenues of the Town.
The Ledger does not give in full the amount of the expenses for any given year which has not been paid at the date of the closing of the books.
In attempting to state the receipts and disbursements in accordance with the forms of the Bureau of Statistics, the classi- fications shown on the books do not permit of a division of the various disbursements in the detail set forth on these forms, without a great amount of labor, hence this has not been attempted in this report.
Other Accounting Methods.
In addition to what I believe to be the undesirable features of the general system on which the accounts are kept, there are other features which should be improved.
One of the chief functions of the Town Accountant should be to act as a check on the transactions of the Treasurer's office ; but this feature is only partially effected in Swampscott. The so-called "Ledger " kept by the Town Accountant is not a ledger at all, but merely a partial record of approved orders paid by the Treasurer, and contains debits only. This ledger is supplemented by a (paper-covered) book which contains an (incomplete record) of the Treasurer's receipts, and other tran- sactions. A trial balance is not attempted.
The Ledger should be kept so as to show at a glance all the receipts and disbursements, classified in accordance with the requirements of the State Bureau, also all fixed and current Assets and Liabilities of the Town, such as Public Property, Treasurer's cash, Trust Funds, Sinking Funds, Taxes Receivable, Accounts Receivable, Bonds and Notes Payable, Accounts Payable, etc .; and this Ledger, containing a complete set of
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1911] .
accounts as required in your By-Laws, should be kept in balance all the time by the double entry system.
The Treasurer's cash book should be interlocking with the Town Accountant's ledger, and the latter should show continually the balance of cash in the hands of the Treasurer.
I noted that the cash book is improperly used to record trans- actions between departments, where no cash is involved. These transactions are in the nature of work done by one department for another and are properly journal items, not cash items, but as no journal has been kept, the use of the cash book has been substituted.
Water Works.
The accounts of this department are well and carefully kept, but as they record only the cash receipts and disbursements, they do not show the true income and expense of the department from year to year.
Whatever might be thought as to the necessity of recording the true income and expense of the Town as a whole, it would seem that the accounts of the Water Department, which is in effect a business undertaking, should be stated so as to show accurately its net income each year.
As the date of the close of the financial year the department has recived a proportion of the water rates from consumers for some months in advance, and water must be furnished to these consumers for this time without further revenue. There are also expenses due, but not paid.
Irregular and Missing Vouchers for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1910.
Irregular Vouchers.
No. Department
Name
Remarks
Amt.
5485 Fire
John R. North
One approval
$13 00
7666 Highway
J. G. Owens
Not approved 9 50
7522 Poor
Edmund Russell
Not approved by
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