44 STATION BULLETIN 346 



Accounts kept by the town clerk for dog license fees and motor 

 vehicle fees are largely a matter of retaining the receipt stubs for 

 later verification against the accounts of the treasurer. However, 

 some town clerks keep a "receipts and payments" book. 



According to the usual procedure, appropriations for town high- 

 ways are expended by the town highway agent, who receives money 

 from the trer;surer but only on order of the selectmen. The highway 

 agent pays his workers and pays for necessary purchases, but submits 

 to the selectmen weekly statements of his expenditures with proper 

 vouchers. The highway agent's accounting therefore is largely a 

 record of payrolls but includes other expenditures. 



The necessary accounting for keeping a record of individual trust 

 funds is a responsibility of the trustees of trust funds. This involves, 

 for each fund, a record of the original principal, of interest earned 

 and spent, and of the unexpended balance. 



Immediately following the end of the fiscal year, January 31, 

 town officers are busily engaged in preparing the town report. The 

 auditors, treasurer, highway agent, and trustees of trust funds send 

 their financial reports to the selectmen, who, with their own reports 

 and those of the school and village districts, prepare the town report 

 for publication. The following sections from the public laws refer 

 to the procedure for reporting to the town. 



At the close of each fiscal year the selectmen shall make a report 

 to the town, giving a particular account of all their financial trans- 

 actions during the year, and of the financial condition of the town 



at the close of the year, including a schedule of all its assets and 

 liabilities. -^5 



The selectmen shall cause their report and those of the treasurer, 

 auditors, school boards, town clerk relative to vital statistics, and of 

 other town ofificers required by law to make reports, to be season- 

 ably published in pamphlet form at the expense of the town and 

 distributed among the voters at or before the town n-ieeting.-^^ 



Within thirty days after publication, the town clerk is required to 

 mail two copies each to the state library, the New Hampshire His- 

 torical Society, and the Genealogical Society. 



In the interest of completeness and uniformity, the state tax 

 commission has distributed to selectmen of the various towns a sug- 

 gested outline for publishing their annual report. It is included here 

 because these town reports are the major permanent record of town 

 business to which citizens and investigators may readily refer. The 

 suggested outline follows: 



1. List of Town Officers 



2. Copy of Current Town Warrant 



3. Copy of Budget 



4. Copy of Summary Inventory 



5. Statement of Appropriations and Taxes Assessed 



6. Comparative Statement of .\ppropriations and Expenditures 



7. Statement of Assets 



*5 Revised Laws, 1941, Chapter 59, Section 17. 

 ^ Ibid., Section 18. 



