Please encourage Boston Finance Commission to make the Fincom reports available via the web. Public reports are kept away from the people by not using the available technology to disseminate these important communications from a commision established to review the effectiveness and efficiency of municipal government. Duties of the Fincom are indicated in Section 18 of the legislation... Acts 1909 Chapter 486 The Finance Commission Section 17. Finance Commission. Appointment, terms, etc. Within sixty days after the pbuttage of this act the governnor with the advice and consent of the council shall appoint a finance commission to consist of five persons, inhabitants of and qualified voters in the city of Boston, who shall have been such for at least three years prior to the date of their appointment, one for the term of five years, one for four years, one for three years, one for two years, and one for one year, and thereafter as the terms of office expire in each year, one member for a term of five years. Vacancies Vacancies in the commission shall be filled for the unexpired term by the governor with the advice and consent of the council. The members of said commission may be removed by the governor with the advice and consent of the council for such cause as he shall deem sufficient. The chairman shall be designated by the governor. His annual salary shall be five thousand dollars, which shall be paid in monthly instalments by the city of Boston. The other members shall serve without pay. Section 18. Duties, etc. It shall be the duty of the finance commission from time to time to investigate any and all matters relating to appropriations, loans, expenditures, accounts, and methods of administration affecting the city of Boston or the county of Suffolk, or any department thereof, that may appear to the commission to require investigation, and to report thereon from time to time to the mayor, the city council, the governor, or the general court. The commission shall make an annual report in January of each year to the general court. Section 19. Pay rolls, bills, etc., to be referred to the commission, etc. Whenever any pay roll, bill, or other claim against the city is presented to the mayor, city auditor, or the city treasurer, he shall, if the same seems to him to be of doubtful validity, excessive in amount, or otherwise contrary to the city's interest, refer it too the finance commission, which shall immediately investigate the facts and report thereon; and pending said report payment shall be withheld. Section 20. Employment of experts, etc. The said commission is authorized to employ such experts, counsel, and other buttistants, and to incur such other expenses as it may deem necessary, and the same shall be paid by said city upon requisition by the commission, not exceeding in the aggregate in any year the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or such additional sums as may be appropriated for the purpose by the city council, and approved by the mayor. A sum sufficient to cover the salary of the chairman of the commission and the further sum of at least twenty-five thousand dollars to meet the expenses as aforesaid shall be appropriated each year by said city. The commission shall have the same right to incur expenses in anticipation of its appropriation as if it were a regular department of said city. Acts 1909 Chapter 486
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