Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1910 — WALKER TRUSTEE SHORT $781.89 [ARTICLE]

WALKER TRUSTEE SHORT $781.89

According to Report Made By Field Examiners. * FIRST SHORTA6EIK THE STATE Examiners Find What They Term Some Peculiar Transactions in Said Office—Trustee Was Appointed to Succeed Albert Bouk, Democrat, Who Resigned and Moved to Dakota. >

Jasper county people were given another shock Friday evening when they read in the Indianapolis News that Field Examiners Davis and Salmon who have been working here for several on township trustees’ accounts, had reported to the State Accounting Board that Fred Karch, trustee of Walker tp., was short $781.89 in his accounts with his township, this being the first trustee reported short in the state. This, coming as it did right on the heels of the conviction of C. L. Bader of the Winamac Bridge Co., for stealing in weight seven tons of steel in the construction of. a 70 foot bridge over the Howe ditch in Milroy tp., was almost too much for the faithful to Stand up under, and that the two sensations have caused no end of comment goes without saying. The reports of the examiners, it seems, are filed with the state board, and as they have kept to themselves w r hat they have found, no one here had any intimation that anything serious had been discovered until they read the News Friday evening. Technical errors, of course, can be found in almost any public officer’s accounts,' and it is said to have been general all over the state for the examiners to find some ground for criticism, chiefly in the use of money in one fund for payment of obligations which should have been paid from some other fund, in the matter of the redemption of road tax receipts, and in the matter of purchase of school supplies. However, the sums involved were for small amounts, and the examiners attributed the small discrepancies to ignorance of the law rather than intention to violate it. Mr. Karch is known v by his friends to have been exceedingly careless and loose in his methods of conducting the township business, but that anything serious had been done they never for a moment thought. He is apparently a clever, whole-souled fellow and has been a popular trustee, it is said, during the three years he has held the office, and just how he got muddled up in this way is hard to conceive. Mr. Karch was appointed to succeed, Albert Bouk, democrat, who moved to Dakota some three years ago. He was a candidate for election to succeed himself in 1908 and was elected over his democratic opponent by only a few votes. Concerning the alleged shortage the Indianapolis Star of Saturday says: In their examination of reports filed by the field examiners working under their direction the members of the State Board of Accounts have found two cases in which township trustees are short in their accounts. In one case—that of Trustee William Sappington of Honey Creek Township, Vigo County, who is said to be $208.93 short—the recommendation isi made by Examiners I. D. Wiest and E. S. Booe that the trustee be displaced. The other alleged shortage was of $781.89, discovered in an investigation of Trustee Fred Karch of Walker Township, Jasper County. Methods of handling the township’s money, which Examiners M. W. Salmon and J. G. Davis term as “peculiar,” were found In making a com prison of Karch’s books with those of his bank. In the investigation of the books In the office of Fred Karch, trustee

of Walker Township, Jasper County, a shortage of $781.89 ws discovered, according to the examiners’ rej>ort. The report declares, also that Karch on June 22, 1909, negotiated a loan of S7OO from the Bank of Wheatfield and issued a township warrant therefor. The examiners found no record that the loan was authorized by the Advisory Board. It also la declared the sum of $546.71 was expended in 1909 for bridge lumber and of tide amount the num of $293 was paid to H. J. Hinrtch, now a member of the Advisory Board, and whom, the examiners were advised, is related to Karch. “One of the vouchers from this relative,” says the examiners’ re-

]>ort, “for which the trustee took credit, was in. the sum of $l5O, while the warrant issued was tor the sum of $50.” “We note,” continued the report, “that the trustee paid the members of his Advisory Board $lO each for salary for the year 1909; that he paid himself S2O for superintending a county bridge under a verbal contract with the county commissioners, as he alleges;, that he took credit for duplicate road receipts in the sum of $24.30, for which he had credit in the previous year’s report; that he took I credit for voucher No. 65 in the I sum of $19.50, which should have been entered $18.50. “We therefore find, and it is our judgment, on account of the above and foregoing enumerated items, that Fred Karch, trustee of I Walker Township, Jasper County, Indiana, is indebted to the said Walker Township in sums as follows: On account of loan from Wheatfield Bank $700; on account overpaid advisory board, sls; on account of difference between voucher No. 113 from J. H. Hinrich and warrant issued in payment thereof, $100; on account of amount paid himself, superintending bridge, S2O; on account of credit taken for duplicate road receipts, $24.30; on account of error in listing voucher No. 65, $1; on account of difference shown In report and balance in bank Dec. 31, 1909, $21.59; total amount short, $881.69. „ - “From the above amount we find that Mr. Karch Is entitled to a cerdit on account of error in footing expenditures from the special school fund tn the year 1907, as per report on file In the auditors office of Jasper County, Indiana, in the sum of $100.” This correction brings the shortage charged to Karch down to $781.59. The cxaminerw report) that they found no apparent mis-

appropriation of funds. “From a careful examination of records and reports,” says the report of the examiners, “we do not discover anything that would indicate an extravagant expenditure of the township funds, but his manner of handling the funds as between himself and the bank has been very peculiar, to say the least. To illustrate: On the first day of January, 1908, when his report on file in the auditor’s office shows him to have a balance on hand of $3,181.99, the Bank of Wheatfield, which was the only bank with which he was doing business at that time, shows his account $149.55 overdrawn. Then, during the month of January, 1908, he made deposits aggregating $3,225.” The reports from the examiners show that in many instances trustees have not followed the law in the purchase of supplies; that they have expended money in redeeming road-tax receipts; that in some instances! “warrant bond funds” have been created out of which to make up shortages in other funds, especially in the road fund, which, technically, is illegal; that they have overpaid road supervisors; overpaid school teachers; that they have failed in many instances to keep invoices of purchaser; that they have failed to record sums paid to school corporations for school transfers; that they have overdrawn road funds and special school funds and overpaid themselves; that they have felled to furnteh Itemized statements of their own services; that they have little clerical knowledge; that they have paid 1908 claims out of 1909 funds instead of borrowing money and arranging for a special levy to repay the loan; that advisory boards have neglected their duties; that in some instances the membership of the advisory board has been incomplete and Illegal; that expendl-

turee; have been made with no record showing that they were authorized by the advisory board; that there has been failure to keep records of appropriations made by advisory boards, and that accounts of former trustees were overdrawn and incoming trustees could not obtain, in some instances, proper settlement. On the wihole, however. the reports received so far show that expenditures have been within reason and the trustees are willing to do everything within their knowledge to comply with the law.