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[In 1961 when the Archives' staff began arranging the papers of the state treasurer and state comptroller, a decision was made to treat as one group the papers of the two offices through the year 1868 when the latter office ceased to exist. It had become apparent that there would be great difficulty in distinguishing the separate provenance of the papers since the records had become intermingled prior to their transfer to the Archives and the types of records created by the two offices were so similar. Furthermore, over the course of years so many duplicate records had been filed in both offices that it was impossible to determine which office originated each document and transaction. [At the same time it was also decided to include in the Treasurer's and Comptroller's Papers other previously separate groups of records in the Archives that were of financial nature. These included the Indian Collection, Miscellaneous Railroad Papers, all financial papers of the War of the Revolution, and the Customs House and Ports Records. The accession records for the latter two groups seemed to indicate that these had come into the Archives as part of the Treasurer's and Comptroller's Papers, and had been made part of a separate collection at a later date.] In 1669 the lords proprietors devised for the colony of Carolina a set of rules and regulations called the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. Few records survive from this early period, and apparently only a few portions of the Fundamental Constitutions were actually implemented. However, North Carolina's governmental agencies of the 1700s that dealt with public monies and claims can be traced to some extent to the offices outlined in the Fundamental Constitutions. Significantly, the document provided for a Treasurer's Court to handle matters pertaining to public money. Under a plan that was later implemented in part, the court was to consist of a proprietor and six counsellors known as treasurers, who in turn were assisted by twelve auditors. Prior to 1711, sheriffs or marshalls usually collected taxes, and the Assembly paid claims on the public purse. The precise year of creation of the position of public treasurer during North Carolina's colonial period remains unclear, although many historical accounts date the beginning of the office to the time of the Tuscarora War (1711-1713) when finances had become a major problem for the colony. It appears that the Assembly appointed precinct treasurers at the beginning of the war to collect taxes levied to cover military expenses. In 1712 the Assembly also began to issue paper money, and by 1714 had assigned Edward Moseley, a former speaker of the Assembly, the task of supervising the exchanging of new emissions of currency for previous ones. In 1715 Moseley was reelected speaker and began to serve as the colony's public treasurer by receiving monies appropriated by the Assembly and disbursing them as the Assembly required. In 1722 the Assembly eliminated the positions of precinct treasurers and transferred the duty of collecting taxes to the high sheriffs and their deputies. By the same act, the public treasurer was given responsibility for supervising the tax money collected by the sheriffs, auditing their accounts, and presenting the accounts to the next Assembly. When the Assembly issued new paper currency in 1729, it appointed eleven treasurers to receive the taxes. Moseley was serving as public treasurer at the meeting of North Carolina's first royal legislature in 1731. He continued in service after the practice of appointing precinct treasurers fell to disuse later in the decade, and their duties were again assigned to the sheriffs. In 1735 North Carolina was divided into two districts, northern and southern, with a public treasurer for each. A 1748 law defined their duties as receiving public monies from the sheriffs, holding all taxes levied by the Assembly, and submitting accounts to that body for auditing. Their term was for four years and each was required to put up a bond. The two treasurers were "commonly appointed by Act of Assembly" according to Governor William Tryon in a treatise written in 1767. Despite the crown's opposition to this practice, the Assembly both appointed the treasurers and consistently maintained control over the auditing of the treasurers' accounts. The Constitution of North Carolina of 1776 specified that the treasurer or treasurers were to be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of the General Assembly and were to serve a term of one year. That constitution also prohibited any officeholder from holding more than one gainful office at a time, and any treasurer from simultaneously holding a legislative seat or serving as a member of the Council of State. Following the implementation of the constitution, successive legislatures enacted various laws to direct the administration of fiscal matters and to prescribe specific measures for the disposition of military claims against the state. In 1779 the General Assembly provided for six treasurers to serve the recently established judicial districts of Edenton, Wilmington, New Bern, Hillsboro, Halifax, and Salisbury. In 1782, the new judicial district of Morgan was added, with provisions for it to have its own treasurer. The concept of multiple public auditors can also be traced to the Fundamental Constitutions, which called for twelve auditors to assist the treasurers of the Treasurer's Court. Until the time of the Tuscarora War the colony had not issued paper currency, and there was a chronic shortage of coin and currency of other colonies. As revenue increased in the colony, so did the numbers of officials dealing with fiscal matters. For a period of time following the war there were two sets of commissioners for examining, stating, and adjusting the public accounts, one for Bath County and another for Albemarle County. Named by each Assembly, the commissioners called before them all those entrusted with the task of collecting the provincial revenues. Having checked the accounts, the commissioners prepared and submitted a report to the Assembly and concluded their duties. After the colony came under crown jurisdiction in 1729, the auditor general of plantation accounts in Great Britain appointed a deputy auditor to account for crown revenues arising from land in North Carolina. Revenues from customs were collected and accounted for by customs officials. Domestic revenues continued to be levied by the General Assembly, and over those it exercised the function of a comptroller through its committee of claims throughout the colonial period. In 1780 the General Assembly established a single Board of Auditors composed of three members elected by both houses. However, one body apparently proved inadequate to perform the tasks of settling the state's accounts, adjusting claims against the state for military and other services rendered, and reviewing the accounts of all persons entrusted with public monies. Consequently, the General Assembly in 1781 established boards of auditors in the seven judicial districts, and the following year authorized them to adjust the accounts of the county commissioners within their jurisdiction. In 1782 the General Assembly established the office of comptroller so that "the public accounts of this state should be immediately settled, and those of several departments collected into one office, so that the Legislature may have a clean and distinct view of the accounts, and of the state of each department from time to time." The comptroller's duties included directing the mode of stating, checking, and controlling all public accounts and entering these in special books for inspection. This act also called for the continuation of boards of auditors in the established judicial districts. In 1783 the General Assembly specified that the comptroller general, instead of the separate county courts, was to adjust and settle the accounts of the commissioners of confiscated property, sheriffs, and other officials having custody of confiscated property for their respective counties. In an additional act in 1783, the comptroller was authorized in the performance of his duties "to call upon and demand" the public books and vouchers of the various boards of auditors, district treasurers, the commissioners of specific taxes, and those who served as military quarter-masters and commissaries. In 1784 the General Assembly eliminated the multiple treasurer conceptand provided for one state treasurer with an office at Hillsborough. Initially, the state treasurer was to be elected by joint vote of the two houses of the legislature for a term of two years. In 1787 the General Assembly required that the county sheriffs and other collectors of public monies settle their accounts with the comptroller, who was directed to report on an annual basis to the state treasurer. Additionally, the clerks of the courts were to submit to the comptroller returns on taxable properties within their respective counties. The comptroller, in turn, was charged with opening an account with the treasurer. From the 1780s until the period preceding the Civil War, the state treasurer was assigned the task of keeping an account of all the state's receipts and expenditures, including salaries, expenses, and claims against the state. He was charged with presenting an accurate statement of the treasury at each legislative session, subject to verification by the Committee of Finance, and submitting books and accounts at any time to random inspection and examination by members of the General Assembly. The state treasurer was given other duties, including keeping accounts through the comptroller with the sheriffs and other county officials, entering suits against sheriffs delinquent in their accounts, handling the account of the comptroller, and approving officials' expenses when he settled their accounts. He was prohibited from paying any grant or warrant unless it stated the reason for which it was issued. The treasurer was also required to grant receipts for all payments made to the treasurer's office, with one to be filed in the comptroller's office and the other granted to the payee and endorsed by the comptroller. However, until a new Constitution was implemented in 1868, the duties and functions of the state treasurer apparently varied widely from time to time. In 1827 the General Assembly specified that the treasurer and comptroller were to make monthly settlements of all the separate accounts of public monies, balancing them and designating which funds were to be deposited immediately in the banks holding state monies. Cashiers were required by the law to give duplicate certificates for each deposit, one to the comptroller and one to the treasurer. The same act required that receipts and expenditures of two special accounts, the Fund for Internal Improvements and the Literary Fund, were to be passed through the comptroller's office for examination and entry. Under separate acts enacted in 1836, the state treasurer and the comptroller were each made subject to a biennial election by the legislature, with oaths to be taken and bonds to be given before entering office. The following year the General Assembly empowered the treasurer to "move for judgment" against those indebted to the state in any court of record in North Carolina. Two decades later, the General Assembly of 1856-1857 again expanded the duties of the state treasurer, requiring that officer to present to each opening session of the General Assembly estimates of the state government expenses and the rates of taxation necessary to cover those costs for the next two years. The public accounts of the state continued to be handled by the comptroller until 1862, when the General Assembly established the office of auditor of public accounts, subject to election every two years by the General Assembly in the same manner in which the state treasurer and comptroller were elected. Under terms of this act, the auditor of public accounts was to receive, audit, and adjust all accounts or claims against the state, certify the amounts and balances, and file these in the office of the comptroller. When the Constitution of 1868 was implemented, the office of auditor of public accounts was replaced with the office of state auditor, and the office of comptroller ceased to exist. The Constitution of 1868 also provided for the office of state treasurer to serve as a member of the State Board of Education and the Council of State. In the latter capacity the treasurer was to advise the governor in the execution of his office and, like the governor and other members of the Council of State, was subject to popular election every four years. The constitution specified that other duties of the treasurer were to be prescribed thereafter by law. Under provisions of a comprehensive law enacted by the General Assembly of 1868-1869, the state treasurer was to receive all money paid into the state treasury, keep records of all money deposited and withdrawn from the state's bank accounts, pay all warrants drawn by the auditor on the treasury, maintain an office in Raleigh, and report to the General Assembly. Under separate legislation in 1868, the treasurer was authorized to borrow money on a temporary basis in advance of the collection of public taxes, in the event that funds were ever needed to pay the interest on the public debt. The General Assembly of 1876-1877 designated the state treasurer as the treasurer of the State Board of Education. Additionally, the General Assembly of 1879 directed the state treasurer to keep the accounts of the state's asylums and penal institutions. During that period the General Assembly enacted several laws requiring the state treasurer to cooperate with other officials in the collection of property taxes--with the state auditor and, on the local level, with the boards of county commissioners, which since 1868 had been granted primary authority to levy, collect, and disburse county taxes. For example, in 1879 the General Assembly stipulated that the state treasurer was to furnish the boards of county commissioners with official forms to be used in their efforts to obtain from tax-payers sworn itemized statements of and appraisals of personal property. In 1885 the General Assembly required the boards of county commissioners to consult with the state treasurer when legal questions concerning local tax lists arose and to be governed by those decisions. In 1891 the General Assembly broadened the state treasurer's responsibility by vesting in that office authority to decide all questions arising from the execution of the state's various revenue acts. In 1901 the General Assembly again extended the state treasurer's powers in regard to taxation, authorizing the state treasurer and the state auditor to challenge appraisals of corporate properties and specified a procedure whereby appeals could be heard in the state's courts. However, the state treasurer as well as the state auditor were relieved of duties related to taxation and revenue control following constitutional and statutory changes in 1920 and 1921. These modifications resulted in the establishment of a Department of Revenue headed by a commissioner, the enactment of a modern income tax law, and the state's abandonment of its involvement in tangible property taxes. During the early twentieth century, different legislatures enacted laws naming the state treasurer as the custodian of several special funds, including the state's share of the Smith-Hughes Congressional Vocational Education Fund in 1917, and the World War Veterans Loan Fund in 1925. Also in 1925, the General Assembly made the state treasurer the ex officio treasurer of the Sinking Fund Commission and the custodian of that fund and any investments made by the commission. In 1927 the General Assembly enacted another law permitting the state treasurer to borrow money for the state in the event of an emergency, but required such action to be authorized by the governor and Council of State. A second law passed the same year stipulated that the state treasurer could borrow money in the anticipation of the collection of taxes. In 1929 the General Assembly abolished the office of treasurer in all state institutions in which the state treasurer had been assigned to keep accounts. Under the same act, the office of state treasurer was declared to be an office of deposit and disbursement, and the only records and accounts to be kept were those necessary to disclose the accountability of that office. Those accounts deemed necessary were to be prescribed by the governor as director of the budget under terms of the Executive Budget Act of 1925. (Three decades later, however, the General Assembly of 1955 specified that the state treasurer was to be independent of any fiscal control by the governor as director of the budget or by the assistant director of the budget.) In 1931 the state treasurer was named an ex officio member of the newly established Local Government Commission. Subsequently, the General Assembly of 1933 provided for the transfer of the duties of the director of Local Government Commission to the state treasurer, with the chief functions being the establishment of uniform systems of accounting for local government units and the supervision of their practices of borrowing money and paying off loans. The state treasurer was also designated as the treasurer and chairman of that commission. A decade later, the General Assembly of 1943 authorized the governor and the state treasurer, with the approval of the Council of State, to invest any excess treasury funds in interest-bearing securities of the state government and the federal government. During this period and for several decades to follow, the office of the state treasurer included the Disbursement and Security Division as well as the Cash and Investment Division. Also during this period and beyond, the state treasurer was assigned various ex officio duties and responsibilities with regard to those state agencies concerned with banking, taxes, housing, hospital finance, and several employee benefit programs, including the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System established by the 1941 General Assembly. The state treasurer also continued to serve on the State Board of Education, as stipulated by the 1868 Constitution. Under the provisions of the Constitution of 1971 and the Executive Organization Act of that year, the state treasurer continued as a constitutional officer whose responsibilities and terms remained unchanged. The Executive Organization Act of 1971 also called for the establishment of a Department of State Treasurer and for the state treasurer to absorb those powers and functions previously specified by legislative decree. Additionally, the act formally transferred the Local Government Commission to the Department of State Treasurer for administrative purposes. In 1973 the Department of State Treasurer, along with other state agencies, was reviewed by the Governor's Efficiency Study Commission. The commission's report characterized the treasurer as the chief fiscal advisor of all departments of state government and as manager of the public debt, including the obligations of the county and municipal subdivisions. The department was described as responsible for the receiving, safekeeping, and disbursing of all state funds, and for ensuring that cash is available to meet all obligations and investing idle funds to bring the highest possible return. The study listed the department's administrative structure as follows: the Division of Funds, Investment Management, and Public Debt Management and the Division of Administration and Operations, and support staff for the Local Government Commission. The report recommended that all retirement systems administered under the state system be consolidated within the Department of the State Treasurer, including those then managed by the Department of State Auditor--the Firemen's Pension Fund and the Law Enforcement Officers' Benefit and Retirement Fund. Subsequently, the department established a Division of Employees' Retirement and Health Benefits. Eventually, the General Assembly transferred all state-administered funds for benefits and retirement to the Department of State Treasurer where they came under this division. (It was renamed in 1985 as the Division of Retirement Systems. The Law Enforcement Officers' Benefit and Retirement Fund was later abolished and absorbed in 1986 by the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System, administered by the state treasurer through the Division of Retirement Systems. The 1991 General Assembly followed up on the earlier recommendation and transferred to the Department of State Treasurer the Firemen's and Rescue Squad Workers' Pension Fund--the successor to the Firemen's Pension Fund as renamed and restructured in 1981). In 1975 the General Assembly enacted a law permitting the state treasurer a broader latitude in the management of state funds. In 1979 the General Assembly authorized an investment program for the General Fund and the Highway Fund and designated the state treasurer to advise and assist the governor and Council of State in adopting the rules and regulations for these programs. In 1987 the General Assembly expanded the investment authority of the state treasurer, although it specified the types of securities and corporate bonds and notes in which surplus state funds might be invested to maximize safely the state's earnings. During the period following the creation of the Department of State Treasurer in 1971, the state treasurer has played an expanded role as advisor to the monetary committees of the General Assembly. Additionally, the state treasurer was given increased responsibilities for several special funds, including the Escheat Fund which holds the assets of state residents who have died without an heir and also any inactive and unclaimed bank deposits. In 1983 the General Assembly provided that any property abandoned within the state and not claimed within ninety days was to be placed in the custody of the state treasurer, to whom all further claims were to be directed. To support these functions, an Escheat and Unclaimed Property Section was established under the department's Division of Administration Services. As of 1992 the operations of the department were carried out by four divisions under the supervision of the state treasurer. The Division of Retirement Systems administered a total of four retirement programs and eight fringe benefit plans for the state's public employees. The Division of Investment and Banking evolved from earlier divisions to carry out the state treasurer's duties of receiving and disbursing all state monies and administering the state's cash management and investment programs. The Division of State and Local Government Finance was designed to provide local governments throughout the state with staff assistance in fiscal administration and in debt management, a duty discharged primarily through the Local Government Commission. The division also provides support to other agencies whose statutory duties relate to the state's financial welfare. Of these, the North Carolina Solid Waste Management Capital Projects Financing Agency provides a loan fund for financing the capital expenses of local and regional solid waste management programs. Another is the North Carolina Educational Facilities Finance Agency, which issues bonds providing financial assistance to private institutions of higher education. Finally, the Administrative Services Division continued to provide support to the department's three operating divisions and to monitor the operation of the Escheat Fund. Note: In 1986 the General Assembly created an independent Office of the State Controller to provide control over the expenditure and disbursement of funds on a statewide basis. The state controller was given primary responsibility to prescribe, develop, operate, and maintain the State Accounting and Disbursing Systems and to operate the State Information Processing Services (SIPS). Although not a direct successor to the defunct historical office of state comptroller, the state controller has similar responsibilities in providing fiscal information and in "checking and controlling" data in terms of regulating accounting systems and verifying financial data. REFERENCES: P.L., 1748, c. 1. In Clark, Walter, ed. THE STATE RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA. Vol. XXIII. Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 1904; Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1994. Pp. 273-275. P.L., 1782, cc. 4, 12. P.L., 1783, cc. 15, 17. P.L., 1787, c. 12. P.L., 1827, c. 1. P.L., 1836, cc. 15, 17. P.L., 1837, cc. 18, s. 69, s. 91; 23. Rev. Statutes, 1836-37, c. 23. Rev. Code, 1855, cc. 23, 112. P.L., 1856-57, c. 30. P.L., 1862-63, c. 3. P.L., 1868-69, cc. 105; 270, ss. 37-38, 71, 76. P.L., 1876-77, c. 162, ss. 6-7. P.L., 1879, cc. 71, c. 59; c. 240, s. 2. P.L., 1883, cc. 60, s. 3; c. 404. P.L., 1885, cc. 177, ss. 13-15; 238, s. 23. P.L., 1887, c. 137, s. 125. P.L., 1891, c. 326, s. 18. P.L., 1895, c. 119, s. 17. P.L., 1917, c. 270. P.L., 1921, cc. 2, 40. P.L., 1923, cc. 12, 236, 241. P.L., 1925, cc. 128, 155. P.L., 1927, cc. 49, 195. P.L., 1929, c. 337, s. 3. P.L., 1931, c. 60. P.L., 1933, c. 31. P.L., 1941, c. 25. S.L., 1943, c. 2. S.L., 1955, c. 578, s. 1. S.L., 1971, c. 864, s. 6. S.L., 1975, c. 519. S.L., 1979, c. 467. S.L., 1983, c. 204. S.L., 1987, c. 751. G.S. 143A-30 through 143A-33 [1992]. Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, Version of 21 July 1669. North Carolina Constitution of 1776. North Carolina Constitution of 1868, Art. III and IX. North Carolina Constitution of 1971, Art. III and IX. Boyles, Harlan E. KEEPER OF THE PUBLIC PURSE: THE STORY OF PUBLIC FINANCE IN NORTH CAROLINA. With the collaboration of Charles Heatherly. Boone, N.C.: Appalachian State University, 1994. Pp. 143-155. Governor's Efficiency Study Commission. SURVEY AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Raleigh, 1973. Pp. 27-28. Greene, Jack P. "The North Carolina Lower House and the Power to Appoint Public Treasurers, 1711-1775." NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL REVIEW 40, no. 1 (1963): 37-53. Kay, Marvin L. Michael. "Provincial Taxes in North Carolina During the Administration of Dobbs and Tryon." NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL REVIEW 42, no. 3 (1965): 440-453. Lefler, Hugh Talmage, and Albert Ray Newsome. THE HISTORY OF A SOUTHERN STATE: NORTH CAROLINA. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954. Pp. 35, 144, 212-213, 219. North Carolina Historical Commission. NORTH CAROLINA MANUAL, 1929. Compiled and edited by A. R. Newsome. Raleigh, 1929. Pp. 75-78. Office of the Secretary of State. NORTH CAROLINA MANUAL, 1991-1992. Edited by Julie W. Snee. Raleigh, 1992. Pp. 48-59, 203. Paschal, Herbert Richard, Jr. "Proprietary North Carolina: A Study in Colonial Government." Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1961. Pp. 365-388. Powell, William S. NORTH CAROLINA THROUGH FOUR CENTURIES. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Pp. 21, 57-59, 77-80, 90. Rankin, Robert S. THE GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF NORTH CAROLINA. American Commonwealths Series, edited by W. Brooke Graves. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1955. Pp. 98, 108, 132. Raper, Charles Lee. NORTH CAROLINA: A STUDY IN ENGLISH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. New York: Macmillan Company, 1904. Pp. 113-114, 126, 129, 197-205. Tryon, Governor William. "A View of the Polity of the Province of North Carolina, in the Year 1767." In Saunders, William L., ed. THE COLONIAL RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA. Vol. VII. Raleigh: The State of North Carolina, 1890; Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1993. Pp. 484-485. For information about a related agency, see the agency history for the State Auditor Record Group (#5). |
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