Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1909 — Attorney-General Makes Ruling About Fees In Auditor’s Office. [ARTICLE]

Attorney-General Makes Ruling About Fees In Auditor’s Office.

According to an opinion received by the auditor of state from the at-torney-general, it is unlawful for a board of county commissioners tcT allow a county auditor pay for preparing books and blanks for the use of township assessors; unlawful for county commissioners to allow special claims of county auditors for services as clerk to the board of commissioners when acting as a board of turnpike directors, as well as unlawful for a county treasurer to pay such claim, if allowed; unlawful for a cowty auditor to charge a township trustee for furnishing lists of land descriptions for assessment purposes, and unlawful for a county auditor to retain for himself fees which have been collected for transcripts supplied purchasers of county or township bonds, all of which are handled by the auditor. The questions on which the opinion was based were submitted by the state board of tax commissioners after it, had been learned by the board that auditors in a number of counties had been collecting one or more of the class of fees referred to in the opinion. According to the attorney-general the following provisions apply to the cases in point: I The county auditor must have each year in readiness for delivery to township assessors all necessary blanks for assessment of personal and real property, and in the absence of a statute enabling the auditor to charge a fee for such service the commissionets can not legally allow a claim for such a fee when it is submitted. The county auditor is required by law to act as clerk to the board of eounty commissioners, and he must act as such clerk when the board is sitting as a board of turnpike directors. There is no statute authorizing the auditor to receive compensation for such clerical services, and it is therefore unlawful for the commissioners to allow such claim when filed. There is no statute requiring the auditor to supply the township assessors with descriptions of lands or of road taxes to “each supervisor’s district,” but even if there was, there being no statute authorizing compensation to the auditor for such list, he is not entitled to such compensation. It becomes the duty of the county auditor, on request of prospective purchasers of bonds, to supply transcripts of proceedings leading to the issuance of the bonds, and such service should be paid for by the bond dealers; but when such pay is collected it does not belong to the audior, under the statute, and must therefore be turned in to the county treasurer.