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The Board of Trustees
Mentor Funds
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Evergreen
Reserve Money Market Fund, Evergreen Reserve Tax Exempt Money Market Fund, and
Evergreen Reserve US Government Money Market Fund, portfolios of Mentor Funds,
for the year ended September 30, 2000, we considered its internal control,
including control activities for safeguarding securities, in order to determine
our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the
financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR, not to
provide assurance on internal control.
The management of Mentor Funds is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by
management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the
entity's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes that
are fairly presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States of America. Those controls include the safeguarding of
assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or irregularities
may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of internal
control to future periods is subject to the risks that it may become inadequate
because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and
operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily disclose all matters
in internal control that might be material weaknesses under standards
established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. A
material weakness is a condition in which the design or operation of one or more
of the internal control components does not reduce to a relatively low level the
risk that errors or irregularities in amounts that would be material in relation
to the financial statements being audited may occur and not be detected within a
timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their assigned
functions. However, we noted no matters involving internal control and its
operation, including controls for safeguarding securities, that we consider to
be material weaknesses as defined above as of September 30, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management, the
Board of Trustees of Mentor Funds, and the Securities and Exchange Commission
and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these
specified parties.
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Boston, Massachusetts
November 3, 2000
