§ 156‑134.  Duties of the auditor.

The auditor for the drainage district will be required to examine the assessment roll and the records and accounts of the sheriff or tax collector as to the assessment roll which went into his hands on the previous first Monday in September and for all previous years as to which the records and accounts of the sheriff or tax collector have not been audited.

The auditor shall for each of such years make a report as to each drainage district, showing the total amount of drainage assessments due for each year, the amount collected by the sheriff up to the fifteenth day of May of the following year, the names of the owners of land, and a brief description of the lands on which the drainage assessments have not been paid, and the total amount of unpaid drainage assessments, with any further data or information which the auditor may regard as pertinent.

If the lands in the district lie in other counties, the auditor for the county in which the district was established shall also examine the records of the sheriff or tax collector for such other counties.

The auditor shall also examine the books of the treasurer for similar years, and he shall report the amount of drainage assessments paid to the treasurer by the sheriff or tax collector for each year, and the amounts paid out by the treasurer during such years, and for what purposes paid. It shall be the duty of the sheriff and treasurer to permit the auditor to examine their official books and records and to furnish all necessary information, and to assist the auditor in the discharge of his duties.

The auditor shall make a report to the board of county commissioners on or before the first Monday in July following his appointment, and he shall deliver a duplicate of such report to the chairman of the board of drainage commissioners of each drainage district established in the county.

If the sheriff has not collected all of the drainage assessments, or has not paid over all collections to the treasurer, or if the treasurer has not made disbursements of the drainage funds as required by law, or has not in his hands the funds not so disbursed by him, it shall be the duty of the auditor to so report, and to prepare two certified copies of his report, one of which shall be delivered to the judge holding a session of superior court in the county following the  first Monday in July, and a copy to the district attorney of the prosecutorial district as defined in G.S. 7A‑60 in which the county is located, and it shall be the duty of such district attorney to examine carefully such report and to institute such action, civil or criminal, against the sheriff or tax collector or the treasurer, as the facts contained in the report may justify, or as may be required by law. (1917, c. 152, s. 10; C.S., s. 5378; 1963, c. 767, s. 4; 1973, c. 47, s. 2; c. 108, s. 97; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1037, s. 124.)