Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-09-01
Suggestions to the Council.

The fact that the Council has ap-
pointed committee to fix the COM
pensation-to recommend the amount
of salary-to be paid the City Assessor,
has induced some considerable COM
ment among taxpayers. The i'm
preston prevails that the salary of the
City Assessor is fixed at five hundred
hundred dollars per annum, and this
impression strengthens to a conviction
on an examination of the law under
which our city is governed. This
being the case now as we'll as when
the Assessor was elected, the question
is natural and pertinent: Why should
an .employee-a public servant-re-
ceive larger compensation than that
for which he agreed to work? The An-
swer in the case under consideration
is that faithful performance of the
task imposed could only be done
through the employment of greater
number of deputies or assistants
than was thought necessary at
the time of closing the contract be-
tween the people and the officer. There
may be something in this, but just the
extent of this something is what
should be ascertained. There is no
doubt but that the Assessor employed
the stated number of deputies, but the
question for the Council to consideris,
were the services of all these deputies
actually necessary to proper assess
ment, and did each deputy devote his
time to the city's service or did one or
all or any of them act as deputy Coun-
ty Assessor at the same time, and does
any one receive full pay from both
county and city for divided service be-
tween the two These are points
which one of our Councilmen would
examine very closely if they pertained
to his private business, why should he
overlook them when acting as the
city's trusted and honored agent?
1t is not difficult to ascertain the
amount of service performed by each
deputy Assessor. An examination of
the names returned by each and the
extent of time employed in the work
will determine the question at once.
There is another matter of considera-
BILE moment which the Council should
enquire into before paying the Assess
or about three times what he is al
lowed by law, and that is, has fair and
impartial assessment of all property
within the city limits been made? If
investigation should disclose that a
few rich men have almost wholly es-
capped taxation, while the many Of
smaller means have been assessed to
the full value of their property, the
increased pay of the Assessor would
show double wrong-the wrong Of
encouraging official dereliction and
the wrong of wilfully misappropriat-
ing the funds of an overtaxed people.
In place Of appointing committee to
fix the salary of the Assessor, it will
more become the Council to appoint
committee to determine how we'll or
how i'll he has performed his duty.
The result of that investigation should
determine the amount of his compen-
sation, if anything, beyond the sum
fixed by law. 1t is true, and it is a
pity it is true, that public officers fall
into the habit of transacting official
business with more careless regard
for the dollars and cents of the people
than ever marks their private affairs.
We venture the remark that not a sin
gle member of our Council would pay
clerk fifteen hundred dollars per
annum who had agreed to work that
length of time for five hundred dollars
without knowing whether he had
earned the stipulated wages much less
three times the amount. Why should
he depart from the strict line of busi-
ness while in the employ of the city?
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