The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-10-14
A REPORT
BY TIE COUNTY COM MIsSfONERS
or CECIL COUNTY,

TO tie Citizens and Taxpayers Of Cecil County.
DtBLIC opinion having, during the past
i twoyears, seemed to demand such course,
and it being in accordance with their own
views of business and propriety, the County
Commissioners respectfully submit to the
citizens aud taxpayers OF Cecil county, the
following Report, in addition 10, and cxplana-
tory of the Statement for the Current year,
now being published in the newspapers. In
doing 80 we but conform to the usual course
demanded OF those who have control of the
business affairs of others, and the manage
mcnt and disbursement ot their funds. The
publication, annually, Of Il similar Report
could not fail, it seems to us OF being inter-
cstng to the people of the county, relating,
as ii would be, to matters of so much pccu-
mary Importance; while in the present year
the unusual amount Of the Levy for county
charges, calls for more specific Statement
than heretofore annually made, as well for
your information as for the vinlication of
ourselves.
The items composing the sum for which an
annual Levy Of county tax is made on the
property of the county, may, for the pur poses
of this Report, be divided into thosC tix cd by
law, regarding which County Commissioners
have no choice: as the pay for jurors. wit
ncsscs, &c; those which, though required by
law, may be, more or less, at their discretion: as
the appropriations, for repairs Of public roads,
&c; and those over which they have entire
control---which as guardians Of the public
moacy and public interests they may provide
for or reject, at the dictation of their own
jndgmcnts--and comprising, generally, such
US may be pctitionrd for by the tax-paying
public. For the first class, the usual annual
Statement is sufficient; it is to the more i'm
rortant items in the other divisions, in our
l.: levy. ypIIr nj rpfinn iS unw n He'd
Our immediate predecessors caused to be
erected at considerable expense, Il new Coun-
ty Alma House which, until the present Sum
mcr, still stood naked, unfinished and I'M
inhabiablc. At the instance Of the present
Trustees Of the Poor, in order that it might
serve the purpose for which it was intended.
the sum Of $500 was appropriated and includ-
cd in the Levy for this year, to fit 1t for oc-
cupation and furnish it in part--it being with
out cupboard or clOrct, none of Which cah be
supplied from the old building. There being
in the old house no bcdstcads except such as
are broken, unsuitable and liable to become
filed with vcrnin, and hence unfit to be re-
moved into the new building, we found it ne
cessary to purchase between forty and fifty
substantial iron ones, the cost of which
(S3O3.75) is included in the Levy. During
number Of years past the usual sum levied for
the support cf the Poor Of the Alias House
the Improvement ofthc farm, &C., was 81 300:
this year on account of the numerous addi-
tional fixtures and convenirnccs needed Oh
the grounds about the new house, it became
necessary to make Levy of 50 5O0--or.
$500 more than usual. A bill Of SlS0.G2 for
fencing put upon the Aims House grounds
during the term Of the last Commissioners is,
ALSO included in this years levy. Besides
these unusual sums we were obliged to levy
n list nf dahl al II l,rf bp Last II
the Poor, amounting to SSO960 MS, also, an
other debt of S36.44 due by them and not
filed before the levy, but which a collector of
the present year has been ordered to pay out
of the bals nee in his hands. Thus it will he
seen that growing out Of the action Of the
late County Commissioners and late Trustees
Of the Poor, in come Xion with the affairs Of
the Aims House alone, there is in the Levy
for 1851 an excess over the usual levy, TO the
amount of the following sums:
To finish and furnish the New Aims
House, $4,000
For iron bedstcads, 3O3.15
Addition to usual annual levy, 10000
Bill Of fencing, ]S0.G2
Debts due by late Trustees, Sf6.04
Total on Aims House acct. S2,030.4l
The amount levied in 1858 for the annual
repairs of the Public Roads, was $5,S29,
which sum was all placed by the late COM
mssioncrs in the hands of the supervisors
appointed by them for half a year, or, up to
the end of last December, leaving nothing for
the first six months of the present year to go
into the hands Of the supervisors elected by
the people; SO that we were obliged to levy
IN amount equal to one half the above sum,
or 81 ,9l4, to pay for the repairs ofthe roads
during the six moths ending the LIST Of July
last, in addition to the usual yearly appropria-
ton.
The amounts levied for landhodcrs to pay
damages sustained by the laying out Of new
roads have been unusually burdcnsomc, but
nevertheless Unavoidable, and they are to be
set down rs unusual county charges uncon-
nccted with the general course Of the county
business. The late Commissioners left pass
ed ON the books, to be levied by us, such
damages amounting to 81 ,501; Sl,21l Of
which was for damages by Il road the Return
of which was made by the Road Commission
ers several months before the levy of 1858,
but which was laid over to be levied in 1854.
During the Spring and Summer of the pres
cnt year an unusual number of petitions for
new roads have been filed, on which, 50 far
as we have yet acted, we have appointed En-
anlncrs, as the law requires. On two OF these
proposed roads, reported on by the EXami-
ReTs before the levy was made, the damages
awarded were heavy; that is: on the road
from Court House Point to the Chesapeake
City road, the sum of $3.50; and on the Direct
Road from Elkton towards Chesapeake City
the sum of So, 800, which includes, also, the
estimated cost Of opening the road and of the
bridge thereby required to be built over Long
Greek. These roads were petioncd for by
citizens of the lower districts, who pay all
nually a large amount of taxes elsewhere cx-
pended in the county; which consideration,
in connection with the fact that the said Direct
Road is part of the system intended to bring
that important section of the Connty--Sassa-
fras Neck-much nearer the county scat,
places the matter of its cost in another light
than that in which it might otherwise be view
ed. BY that road, now that one has been
laid out across Bohemia Manor, Bohemia
Ferry is brought within ten miles of Elkton
and the bridging of the river at that point,
to do which the citizens there have now the
forming of Company in contemplation, and
which at no remote day will undoubtedly be
done, will reduce the distance between that
valuable district of the county and the coun-
ty town fully one half. These facts being set
forth and these views entertained, and the
petition for the road having been very MI
merousiy signed, we coMld not, with proper
sense of justice towards that part ofthe GOWN
ty-the necessity of the road as direct COM
munieation between two important towns also
considered-rcject it on account of its cost.
We have therefore been compelled on the