Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-21
REGULATE DISTRICT CLERK FEES.
Bill Introduced to Fix Salaries to BE
DrnNn by These OfncimIs.

Drawn by Vhese onc1uls.
LINCOLN, Feb. 2O.-(Special.) 1.-The dis
trict clerk lobby will again have to become
"active" as a bill has been introduced in
the senate to regulate their salaries and
provide for the return of excess fees to the
county treasury. There have been many at
tempts to regulate the fees of district
clerks especially because of the large
amount of fees received in Douglas and
Lancaster counties. AS the present law
stands they are allowed all the fees of the
office, and for this reason the Douglas
county clerkship has often been looked upon
as the best paving elective position in the
state the Lancaster elerkship coming sec
ond. The part of the bill relating to the
clerks salary is as follows:
THAT in counties having less than 10000
population every clerk of the district court,
whose fees shall in the aggregate exceed the
sum cf $4,000 per annum, shall pay such
| excess into the county treasury of the county
in which he holds his Office, and shall have
such deputies, clerks and assistants as the
county commissioners may deem necessary,
whose salaries shall be fixed by said county
commissioners, but in no case shall the sal
| aries of the clerk and his deputies, clerks
or assistants, in the aggregate, exceed the
| total amount of the fees collected by him.
! And that in counties having more than TO-
| 900 population every clerk of the district
| court, whose fees in the aggregate exceed
| the sum of SO, 900 per annum, shall pay such
excess into the county treasury of the
| county in which he holds his office, and shall
| have such deputies, clerks and assistants as
| the county commissioners may deem neces-
| sary whose salaries shall be fixed by said
county commissioners, but in no case shall
| the salaries Of the clerk and his deputies,
clerks and assistants, in the aggregate, ex-
| ceed the total amount of the fees collected
by him"
S. +. 2S5, introduced by Newell of Cass
by request, proposes change in the dis
tribution of the road tax fund between met
| ropolitan cities and cities of the first class,
| and the counties in which they are located,
| which will probably be hailed with delight
by the cities and opposed by the counties.
| The bill affects the distribution of this tax
| in Douglas and Lancaster counties In these
counties at least rs per cent of the money
| raised by this road tax Is paid by the prop
| erty owners of the cities, while under the
present law one-half goes into tie county
| treasury for use in the country road dis
| tricts while the other half goes to the city
| for use on city streets If this bill becomes
a law three-fourths, which is the estimated
| amount contributed by the city taxpayers,
will go to the city and one-fourth to the
county districts outside of the city
In Lincoln at least there have been
clashes between the city council and county
commissioners over this fund. The council
! has demanded that more than one-h half be
| expended on city roads, owing to the fact
| that at least three fourths of the tax is coi-
iected from the city, but the county COM
missoners have always refused, favoring
the country districts and using one-half upon
country roads.