IN ASSEMBLY, April 4, 1833. REPORT Of the Comptroller, on the petition of Philip Church, referred to him by the Assembly. COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, } TO CHARLES L. LIVINGSTON, Speaker of the Assembly. SIR Herewith is presented a report on the petition of Philip Church, referred to the Comptroller by the Assembly. Respectfully your obedient servant, [Assem. No. 289.] 1 A. C. FLAGG. COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, To the Assembly of the State of New-York. The Comptroller, to whom was referred by the Assembly, the petition of Philip Church, of the town of Angelica, in the county of Allegany, respectfully submits the following REPORT: The petitioner states, that he is the owner of various lots of land in Allegany county, and that in the years 1830 and 1831, his lands and other lands of which he had the agency, were improperly and unjustly assessed; and that illegal, unjust and improper taxes have been charged upon such lands in an illegal manner. The lands thus assessed have been returned to the Comptroller's office, and the prayer of the petitioner is, that the Legislature will direct the Comptroller to suspend the sale of said lands, until the petitioner and those for whom he is agent, can have an opportunity of obtaining redress by a legal investigation of the injury complained of. The petition is accompanied by an affidavit of Philip Church, in which is set forth sundry charges of the supervisors for personal services, in order to show the illegal or irregular expenditures which were made and assessed upon the land in question. Some of these charges appear to be extravagant; and it is possible that the supervisors were not as rigid in auditing their own accounts, as they were those of other persons, or as they ought to have been. The affidavit also charges that two of the supervisors, after serving with the board until nearly the close of the session, "asked for and obtained leave to resign their offices as supervisors and members of the board, and were on the same day appointed by said board, superintendents of the poor of the county of Allegany;" and notwithstanding these appointments, the two persons in question received pay as supervisors for the whole session. A special act was passed in 1829, which declares that, "no supervisor of any town shall be appointed to hold the office of superintendent of the poor in any county in this State." The resignations of the two supervisors, if tendered only to the board, were not made in conformity to the law relative to town officers. Their resignations, by section 33, page 348, first Revised Statutes, must be made to three justices, who, for "sufficient cause," may accept such resignations. If the persons in question had resigned in this manner, they had no right to act at all at the session of said board; and if they had not thus resigned, then their appointment was a gross and palpable violation of the act of 1829, forbidding such appointments. If the right to accept the resignations had been vested in the board, still the whole transaction must be regarded as an evasion of the spirit and meaning of the act above referred to. The affidavit charges, that the board of supervisors in 1831, appropriated 200 dollars to purchase a toll bridge across the Genesee river in the town of Portage. If this bridge had become a town charge, and if the town would have been "unreasonably burthened" by repairing it, in such case the appropriation may have been proper. Section 119, page 524, first Revised Statutes. It is further alleged, that the board of supervisors in 1830 and 1831, passed resolutions authorising the town collectors to draw from the treasurer of the county, fees on the amount of taxes on lands returned to the Comptroller, and accepted by him. The Comptroller does not find any authority given to the boards of supervisors to make such allowances to the collectors. The collectors are allowed 5 per cent on all sums collected and paid over by them, unless their fees are established at a less per centage by the town-meeting, under subdivision 9, § 5, p. 340, 1st Revised Statutes. The county treasurer, by § 38, p. 396, 1st R. Statutes, is required to charge the town collector with "the sums to be collected by him," and in settling the collector's accounts, the treasurer gives him credit for all sums which cannot be collected. The 5 per cent is charged to the collector in the total amount of the tax rolls, and the 5 per cent is credited to him on all sums not collected. On the sums paid over, the collector retains his per centage, and is credited with the amount thus retained as his fees for collection, |