The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-12-11
BRIDGES, ROADS
AND ECONOMY
Was What Occupied the Chief
Attention Of the Board Of
FreehoIders
COUNTY ROADS FURNISH TOPIC

tion Concerning the Cost of building
Roads. Director Becker's View on
tine Collateral Inheritance Tax. Mr..
Post is to Buy secondhand
! Bridge.
Bridges, roads and economy were
the matters receiving most attention
at the monthly meeting of the Board
of Freeholders, held in the Freehold
ers rooms in the Court House on We'd
nesday. Promptly at ll.20 the board
was called to order by the Director,
when the roll call was taken and the
minutes of the previous meeting read
and approved.
4 petition was read from Robert
Smalley, who has been in jail since
Sunday, August y, asking that the
Board to remit his fine of S25. On
motion the petition was referred to
the Boards counsel. This commune
cation was indorsed by G. b. Gage,
J ustice of the Peace, of Dover. George
| Rowley also presented a petition in
writing asking that he be released
from jail, as he said that his time
/ thirty days. had already been served
but that he was still working out the
costs, which amounted to seventy-tiye
cents This was also referred to the
counsel.
Current expenses We're reported as
follows: Court, SIT, ,611 10 ; courthouse
and jail, current, $3,99l.10, permanent
improvements, $2,907 .26: Children's
Home, S2,550.57; lunacy, 1926. 96
freeholders and officers, 1860. l6; coro-
ners and post-mortems, $2,26l.2l: cleo
tions, Sl,142.72; indexing, So, 1892;
stationery, S300.65- advertising and
printing $978.47; superintendent coun-
ty schools, $245.90; insurance, 1862. 30;
street lighting, $22917 interest ON
county road bonds, $4,000; removing
snow, $500; bridges, 81, ,1l6.55; road re-
pairs, 81, 5SS13.
The report of the Courthouse and
Jail Committee was to the effect that
20 prisoners had been discharged and
% still remained in Jail. DR.. j. B.
Griswold's statement showed that he
had made eleven visits He also re-
ported that the new drug closet had
not as yet received the supply of glass
ware ordered.
/ The Committee on Lunacy sub
mitted no report.
In behalf Of the Committee on
County Roads, Major Dalrymple stated
that the Mt. Vail road had been
graded and that the Smoke Valley
road would shortly be completed, At
this point few remarks we're made
by County Engineer King in regard to
the specifications of the roads still to
be completed. He stated that the
specifications on file at Trenton had
been changed according to the new
law ON the subject and the Director
and Clerk were authorized to sign
them, at that time. On motion it
was voted to have the Director and
Clerk sign the new specifications Of
the Ways and Means Committee.
Mr. Dalrymple stated that a note
for $15, 900 must now be authorized
to be duly signed by the Director and
Collector-to cover the differences be-
tween the estimates and the real cost
of the roads. Mr.. King was accord
ingly asked by Mr.. Post why there
should be such a diversity between the
estimates and the cost Mr.. King
stated in reply that he never knew of
a county road where the cost did not
exceed the estimate. As an instance
he quoted the case OF the Mt. Free
dom road where the estimate called
for "a cents per foot for removing the
rock. while the real cost was VI .05. He
further said in answer to a call for in
information that no freeholder or en-
gineef could estimate exactly what the
ultimate cost of any road would be.
| 1t was further stated that the deficit
was especially large in the case of the
Green Valley road, where the esti-
mate called for $500 feet of drainage
and the real cost was for 5000 feet
In this ease the deficiency was some
where i'm the neighborhOOd of $4,000,
Under the head of new business it
was stated that the road bond indebt-
edness of the county was 100000 and
that, according to law, the township
or municipality in which the indebt-
edness was contracted was liable to
one-third the cost. This does not
come due till 1905 however. A COM
mittee appointed by the Director to
look into the matter were: Johnson,
Cook and Swackhamer.
Director Becker here spoke in re-
gard to Inheritance tax. He said that
| he had thought for some time that a
certain portion of the tax should ac-
crue to the county in which it was
collected. According to him it varies
from $4,000 to $4,000 a year in this
county. On motion a resolution was
drawn up by counsel, which is intended
to be circulated among the members
of the Legislature, to the effect that a
law be enacted whereby one-half or
some othef proportion of inheritance
tax shall revert back to the county
paying it in.
On making rough estimate it was
found that the deficiency or emer-
gency bills would foot up to about
$33 900. The largest part of this in
debtedness was due to the excess Of
bridge business.
Mr.. Post asked for authority to pur-
chase a secondhand iron bridge, for
merly in Passaic county, to put up
where fallen bridge now exists in
this county. 1t was stated that the