Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1885-08-21
Commissioners Statement.

than that OF last year; it still, however,
lacks of the particularly and precision
found in the statements of many of the
counties of the State and fails to throw
the proper light upon one or two branches
of the public expenditures. The progress
which the commissioners and their clerk
are making in the right direction since
this matter was made the subject of judic-
ial investigation some two years ago. gives
fair promise that in the not distant future
our annual statements will show full
compliance with the law and present a
satisfactory exhibit of the business and
financial affairs of the county. .
| 1t will be described that, as n result of
the itemized statements, the jury fund.
which had formerly been kept up to a
regular levy of $4,000 per annum, bu'
which with the fist specific statement OF
last year dropped to $500, is this year
brought down to $1,000. 1t will be seen
also that the insane pauper fund which
had down to last year had stereotyped
! levy Of So 900 to its credit, is now brought
down to $1,000. Thus it will be seen that
there is saving of $4,000 per annum on
these two items alone which has been eff,
fected contemporaneously with the item
lied publication of the county eSpendi-
lures.
The inquiry will naturally PROFOUND
itself to the thong htful reader who notices
these features Of the statement, why this
apparently considerab e retrenchment does
not manifest itself in a diminished rate OF
taxation. The TINES took occasion at
the time Of the publication of the last an
nual statement, the first one itemized I'M
der tie decision of the cour.. to show how
the considerable diminutinns in several oil
the special levies which were made ncces-
sary by the itemized statement were COUP
ter balanced by the contracting Of several
extraordinary expenses during the fiscal
year, such as redeeming the county bonds,
purchasing a number of road mules and
making extensive repairs to the Jail,
whereby the tax rate was kept at tie same
| figure.
1t will become necessary this year to
examine into the causes of an increase OF
two cents in the tax rate in the face of the
| further diminution OF several of the spe-
cial levies. Th.se causes will he found
this year in the payment of $3.50 to Mr.
B. G. Stonestree', the clerk Of the court,
for indexing the land records. S2.15 Le.
ing levied for his use ard $500 advanced
to him out of the contingent fund This
expenditure was incurred by the authori-
ty of an Act Of Assembly which Mr.. L. NJ,
cumberland got through the Legislature
at The last session. Mr. Switzerland has
himself done the work as the special de
putty of Mr.. S ones rect He has done the
work 10y easy stages in little over year
and, if Mr.. Stonestreet gives him the ful
amount, he will realize quite a snug little
salary for his years easy clerical services,
This work may be very useful in its way
but we question if il had been left to the
woe of the tax payers, if it would have
been deemed Of sufficient urgency TO war
rant the incurring of this expense at time
when the tax payers are already so heav
lily burdened. Besides it seems to US that
the compensation for the work, which was
provided in the act, has been excessive
By this extraordinary expense the retrench-
ment brought about in the pauper and
jury funds is more than counter balanced
this year and SO the tax rate would have
been kept at the old figure of 9S cents
But the commissioners have seen fit to
give an additional appropriation to the
School Board this year for which purpose
been made, making the rate 100 cents up
on the 800.
1t will be obserbed that the o'al road
expenses for the fiscal year are Sl0,a52 so,
and that deficiency of 81, s23,s9 in this
fund has been carried over into the cur
rent fiscal year. Thus it will be seen that
the increase. The expenses on this &C.
count are considerably augmented by the
letting out of road work on special con-
tracto private parties, and the allowance
to the members of the board of commits
sioners of per diem for Overlooking
roads," neither of which expenses is, in
our opinion, warranted by existing law.
1t will be an interesting problem for some
one we'll skilled in figures to work out,
how the commissioners expect to run the
roads during the current fiscal year on
$4,000, minus a deficiency of S1,S23,
or $6,177 net, in the face Of an expeddi-
ture of over $4,000 on that account dur
ing the past year; and yet we find that
they have only levied $4,000 for the road
fund for next year wherewith 10 run the
roads and meet the deficiency. 1t may be
that the commissioners expect to hand
this deficiency, along with the her aft .irs
of the county, over to g Democratic board
this fall; or probably they preferred to
conceal their extravaganza or mismanage-
ment in respect to this fund by carrying
over this large deficiency, rather than pro-
viding for it by running up the tax rate
to 105 cents at time when they hope the
tax payers will allow them to be elected
again.
The statemeHt is essentially defective in
failing to properly itemize the insane pau
per expenses and in failing to show the
amount of outstanding county bonds with
the rate of interest on same. Mr. Mudd,
the efficient c'erk of the board. has pro-