Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1901-10-04
SALARY CHANGES.


important changes in the law as re-
CARDS salaries of county officers in
Amador county, all of them, as
usual, in the direction of increasing
the emoluments of Office. One i'm
portant, and very desirable, change
concerns the Office of tax collector.
The salary of tax collector is still
fixed at $500, sum entirely out of
keeping with the duties and respon-
sibilities of that position. For this
pittance the officer is supposed to
collect licenses as we'll as property
taxes. The board of supervisors,
realizing the absurdity of such law,
has allowed the tax collector 10 per
cent commission on all moneys col
lected for county licenses. While
there was no legal sanction for this
action, still it was justifiable from
the standpoint of expediency and
the county's financial interests. In
the absence of any allowance for the
collection of licenses, the collector
would naturally have remained in
his Office, and compelled all license
payers to go there to settle, instead
of making tour of the county him
self once every three months for the
express purpose of collecting these
dues. Such system would have re-
suited in the loss of far more revenue
than the ten per cent commission
amounts to under the present ar
engagements. Under the county
government bill passed last winter,
the tax collector is allowed to retain
10 per cent commission on licen ses
collected. This places the salary of
that official on stable foundation.
Tt is still too low, and altogether out
of joint with the salary and per-
quisites of the sheriff's office, the
sheriff being ex-officio tax collector.
The sheriff in his dual position has
been drawing from the people of
this county at the rate of about
$1,000 per year. This is a larger
sum than the official salary of the
governor of California. It is long
way too much for a county like
Amador to pay one man, no matter
how mulifarious his duties may be.
1t is nearly equal to the combined
salaries Of the three next best paid
officials in the county. And yet for
some reason the salary of the tax
collector-in which department the
lions share of the work has rested
for years-has been kept at ride
ulously low figure. There has no
doubt been some object in view in
thus keeping the tax collectors
salary down, and boosting the
sheriff's office out of all proportion.
The object was to keep the two Of
fees consolidated, as at present.
No competent man would be willing
to accept nomination for tax col
lector alone, with the prospect of
getting $500 per annum for his SER
vices. Under the law which will
govern this Office hereafter, the 10
per cent commission on licenses will
amount to about $1,000, making the
total something like $500 per
annum. The offices of sheriff and
tax collector in Amador county
ought to have been divorced long
ago. They would have been sep
arated, had it not been for the
manipulation of legislators, who
sought no doubt for party reasons
to keep them united. The duties of
the offices are entirely dissimilar.
Men are extremely scarce who
possess the necessary qualities to
make an efficient. sheriff and tax col
lector. The duties of tax collector
often interfere with the duties of
the sheriff's office. Amador is the
only county of its population and
Importance in the state where such
an unseemly combination exists.
In Calaveras county, where like
condition of affairs existed for