The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-08-16

Now as the amount of taxes collie, ted
f,r county purposes for the year 1879 is
$50, 1910, it will be seen that about
twelve Q2) per cent of the same is con-
sumed for collection alone, and before
one dollar is expended on account oi
county expenses. 1t is easily demonstra-
BILE that seven thousand dollars of the
above amount could be saved to the tax
payers of the county. Passing over the
first item in this account, viz. 81, 21460,
and the additional item of $4,000, coun-
sci fees in the Grice case, an expense to
which any ordinary management would
not have put the county, with the re-
mark that the compensation is an ample
per diem for the work done, and that
three commissioners at least are neces-
sary to constitute levy court, will any
business man in Cecil county, or other
than an office-seeker, rise and explain
the necessity Of Aarinq tar collectors at aH'
Are they not totally useless and unneces-
sary offices, simply perpetuated as re-
wards for politi, al service, which the
bran-new Democratic platform, only
week old, condemns? Are they not
solely for the benefit of individuals?
Clever-as a general Tablespoonful men
who hold Them but still Of no use-ds
offices, a $1,000 burden upon the
taxpayers, which should be removed.
Isn't it apparent to the meanest under
standing. that one County Treasurer can
do the work, and do it better, too, and
more promptly, than nine fresh men ap-
pointed, put under new bond every
year, and themselves appointecs every
alternate twelvemonth? Indeed, is not
the Clerk of the County Commissioners
we are speaking of him impersonally-
already County Treasurer de faeto, since
he, by universal consent receives an adj
ditional salary other than that allowed by
law, commissioned indefinite guam
tity-on all disbursements made by him.
and which constitute it one of the most
sought for and most lucrative offices in
the gift of the people? The keenest-
eyed taxpayer has, not merely during
| the incumbency of the present Clerk to
the County Board, but for many terms
| previous, scanned in vain, annually, the
| published county statement, to detect, if
| possible, loo and nhere this mythical,
but universally conceded, extra commits
sion of the Clerk was carried. Dive as
they may into the depths Of the "hole-
n-the-wall," no man, now living outside
the County Board, has fathomed the
secret. There stands in its place the
cool, insignificant item of $500-salary
of Clerk. And yet, strange to say, not
withstanding the payment to the Clerk
of this commission, variously estimated
from 2 to 5per cent on all disbursements,
how nicely the account balances. But
whether carried as deficiency, or man.
aged as it may. to the public it remains
a mystery that mo fellow-sare they
can find OUT But passing from this Off
cial mystery to plain figures. A county
Treasurer for Cecil county, and bonded
officer, to whom all taxes should be paid,
in default of which payment with pen
atty, after a certain period, collcctable
by execution at the hands of the county,
would be well paid at a fixed salary of
$4,000 per annum. Then what should
be, under any fair business system, the
cost of collecting the annual county tax,
| viz:
;, Commissioners, each $500. ....... 5000
| County Treasurer OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 1000
Twcnty-ninc hundred dollars instead
of eleven thousand, should be the maxi,
mum cost of collection merely, as, in al
cases of default, the sheriff fees form 4
cost bill chargcable to the individual
Why, then, have we not system of tax
collection commensurate with the char
acter of the work. and as demanded by
the exigencies of the times-an econom-
ical one? Simply because the dominant
party don't want it. SO long as they can
divide the spoils of an expensive and fat
partisan system.