Carbondale School District Audit

15 Pa. D. & C. 142, 1930 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 75

• Court: Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County
• Decided: June 23, 1930
• Docket: No. 787
• Status: Published

Opinion

Leach, J.,

Exceptions to auditor’s bill for auditing the accounts of the school district for year ending June 30, 1929.

The bill of the auditor, the Controller of the City of Carbondale, for auditing the affairs of the school district, which is a third class district, is as follows:

Personal service, thirty days @ $5........................$150.00

One assistant, thirty days @ $5........................... 150.00

Stationery and typing report............................. 50.00

Filing report............................................ 2.00

Sending notices of surcharges.............................90

Total.............................................$352.90

The above bill was confirmed nisi and exceptions were filed. Under the Act of June 29, 1923, P. L. 949, the duty of auditing the accounts of the school district was cast upon the city controller; and the Act of May 4, 1927, P. L. 679, provides that the compensation for auditors in school districts of the third class shall be as follows:

“In school districts of the third class, the compensation for auditors shall be five dollars ($5.00) per day for each day necessarily spent by each auditor, and the total expense of such audit, including the cost of filing the report, advertising, and other necessary costs, shall be paid by the school district.”

Under the Act of April 5, 1927, P. L. Ill, the legislature indicates that the auditor shall audit the accounts within thirty days. Before the Act of 1927, P. L. 679, in Com. v. Tice, 282 Pa. 595, the Supreme Court held that the city controller was compelled to make the audit without additional compensation, if the legislature so required. The court refused to pass upon the question as to whether he would be entitled to the compensation of $5 a day. We may consider that this was granted the controller by the Act of 1927, P. L. 679. Under the Act of 1927, P. L. Ill, his report should be completed within thirty days, and the only pay he can be allowed for making the audit is $150. The “expenses” contemplated by the Act of 1927, P. L. 679, in addition to the $5 per day, do not contemplate the hiring of an assistant to do the things that, under the law, the auditor is compelled to do. Such “expenses” are the necessary incidental costs, such, as stationery, typewriting, filing report, etc.

Now, June 23, 1930, the exceptions of the School District of the City of Carbondale to the controller’s charge for auditing the accounts of the school district are confirmed to the extent of $150 for services of an assistant and the remainder of the bill, $202.90, is ordered paid.

Prom William A. Wilcox, Scranton, Pa.