The Brookhaven leader., 1885-04-23
More About the Pay of Our City
Officials.

our article of last we, k IN "rhe Paw
%! our Guy Officials" which militat
Ell against Mayor Dra>on, anil as it
Is not ~ Keeping with the policy OF
intention of TuE LEADER To pervert
facts or make M statements TO the
dctrimcnt Of any one, we take
pleasure in here giving him the brE
eft Of q CORE elton OF our figures
small though it he. |. W. stated
;hat the Mayors salary had been
raised from $50 90 TO 5000 in CON
sideration.of his waving all claims
To perquisites whereas, the increase
was from So 80 to $1,000 net in.
crease of $17 so instead of $1,000 per
month, as we had il. 9. We assert
ed that The total amount of fines and
perquisites pail into the City treas
nry since the induction Of His Hon
or into office, was $4,000; whereas,
the fines alone amounted To $50. 90 -,
and the perquisitcs TO $l7.20 addi-
tinnal- making q total f $97 20.
We wrote from memory as To tie
salary paid our former Mayor, cX-
pecting to verify the figures by the
record, but in the hurry Of reading
the proof and getting to press, for
got TO do so until too late. The fail
urc to give credit for the $l7.20 was
because we misunderstood the clerk
and thought the perquisitcs were in.
GUIDED in the $4,000.
Thus much by way of correction
and explanation. Now few words
more. and 1t will be seen that the
argument is still decidedly in favor
Of reduction Of salary. From
March, 1884 the date ut which the
increase ia Mayors salary took eff
fcct-to March, 1885, the aggregate
increase for the l. months at $l7. 80
per month makes the nice little sum
of $2l0 co. AS an equivalent for
this, the City can only point to the
1920 in perquisites mentioned
above which His Honor so graceful
~ waived his ri ght to cl.im. All
fines 90 into the City treasury by
provision of the charter, so that the
City is actually out on "the trade"
$192.S0 in one year. 1t can't be
claimed that the Mayor earns his
salary in Court service, for if so,
there would be correspondiugly
greater amount of fines and perqui-
sites to show for it. To be plain,
there is very prevalent opinion
that, having q salary of 100000 per
annum assured, His Honor is bliss
fully indifferent as to whether his
Court docs anything or not, and so
lets a great many cases 60 unnotic-
ed that he might justly deal with.
A paucity of business in the May
or'S Court also furnishes an appar-
ent reason why the City Marshal
should receive so large a fixed sala
~ rs he does but in truth, the pay
Of both these officials should be
made more contingent upon the
public service rendered. II they do
nothing, they earn nothing while
on the other hand, il they should be
kept busy much of their time, the
perquisltes thus realized would be
sufficient with a much smaller sala-
~, and the City would also reap
corresponding increase in fines.
The Clerk informs us that some
other fnes-aggrcgate unknown
have been assessed and collected but
not yet paid in, but these will now
60 to the credit Of the second years
administration.
The question should be settled by
the City Council at their next meet
ing solely on its merits, and if this
is done, we do not see how they can
avoid granting the Taxpayers their
prayer.