The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-09-01
The Peoples Column.
The County Debt and Higher Taxes.

To The idL- Payers Of cecil county:
In view OF the conflicting statements OF the debt
Of Cecil county that have been published from
time 10 time the widespread complaint over the
increase {" the county rate from soto loo cents,
and the iutImation that this increase was made
necessary, in part, by mismanagement OF the
Commissioners office in recent years we have
thought it due to ourselves 10 submit for your
consideration "a few facts and ngures bearing
upon this question. taken from the annual State
ment'' now appearing in the county papers.
The statement shows that during the
fiscal year Just closed the expenses
incurred and the bonds pad ny the
Commissioners amounted to. 81 ] lG6 10
The net amount OF receipts availabeas
an offset was. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. g6Uls ~
Showing the deficiency created during
the year to have been ................ Sl54lS SIS
The entire debt on June 30 1857, WAS. 81, 25i -
Making the total amount June 80. 1883. Is, 673 "a
These hgures, however include as an
asset a note received from the Bohe-
mia Bridge Co. when the affairs of
that company were turned over to tho
Commissioners, and which still stands
ON the books. unless stricken oil
lately. 1t has been ignored by the
present Board i'll preparing their re-
port, and must he added here to con-
form TO their method OF stating
counts. The note amounts to.. 23S7 90
And causes the debt to foot up....... S6s, 900 43
This sum is divided into
Maturing bonds ............ SAG, 400 90
Floating debt. - $50 43-S6s 900 IS
In their address to the tax payers issued June
l3 1855, the Commissioners stated the debt to he
q" at least eighty thousand dollars. The Goat ting
debt alone was placed at 'thirty-hve or forty
thousand dollars
There can no longer be any doubt as to the
actual amount of county Indebtedness, and the
Commissioners will admit, on their own showing,
that the finances of the county are in I'M
satisfactory condition" as they ut first supposed
them to he.
Now IL 10 the real cause o, higher taxes this
year.
The Levy OF 1883 exclusive of amount
provided Tor deficiency. aggregates. STA 43O 81
The Levy OF 1887, for the same purposes
looted up only ..-........... G3.554 ~
The Commissioners have therefore in
creased the estimates of last year.. S2O. SIS 81
The sum OF SO 500, for read and bridge work
during the new year, is included in the Levy OF
1Sss, although in the annual Statement spe
cial mention is made of the fact that during the
last six months of the past fiscal year this work
cost only S7.264.SU, and the roads were put in
good repair throughout the county, with but very
few exceptions" The question naturally arises:
II the roads and bridges required an outlay of
only $7,254.3O from January to July, when the
principal part ol the work OF the year was done
upon them, would not SIS 900 have been an ample
amount to provide Tor tine iull year? This would
have shortened the aggregate IL 800.
Moreover, the Commissioners were not compelled
by the Act OF 1886 to levy in 1888 Tor more OF the
Hna ir,pI debt or deficiency n we cd dur
ing the year and under the Levy OF 1887. This
amount was Sl54Is.55. The balance of the float
ing debt, (Sl2 l5l.ss) belonged to levies prior to
1885. This balance could have been carried as a
temporary loan just similar debts had been in
forme years. by Republican and Democratic Com
missionerS. until by gradual levy it could be en-
tirely lquidated. This would have been more
economical than funding the whole floating debt
II, then. the Commissioners had deemed it ex
pedient to do so, hey could have cut down the
Levy oi 1ssS-
For roads and bridges ...............sll 500 20
Reducing the aggregate ..........S23, 6l1 IS
This reduction would have fixed the county rate
a: 81 cents instead Of loo cents.
But if it be contended that the estimates for the
present year We're placed at the lowest figures
consistent with good management, not looking to
the accumulation of a surplus in the treasury. and
that hereafter these estimates. and not the lower
estimates OF 1857. will govern the tax rate. then
the rate for 1889 will be above 81 cents unless the
taxable basis is very largely increased. and the
levies made by the last Board, in 1886 and 1887,
at that rate, were not eXOrDtant.
Finally. if the Commissioners had considered