Gloucester County Democrat., 1904-05-19
BURLINGTON FREE
HOLDERS LECTURED.
Judge GaskilI Tells FreehoIders
what is Lawful and What
is Unlawful.

In charging the Grand Jury of Burling-
ton county last week, Tuesday, law Judge
the Board of Chosen Freeholders, and the
Herald, of Mt. Holley, says it created a
sensation Our space will not permit
publication of the entire charge, but we
quote few paragraphs =
Idesire, in the first place, to call your
attention to the manner in which appro-
priations are made. They are not made
according to law, and they are not made
according to good business judgment. The
Act of 1902 which is revision of pre-
vious act, specifically declares the manner
in which appropriations shall be made;
and yet the appropriations for the last two
years have not been made in accordance
4 with this act. According to this act the
expenses of the county and the money that
is to be raised to meet those expenses is
divided under three grand heads first Cur
rent Expenses of the County - second
ssDebt and Interest Of the County, and
third sPublic Works for the County,
Under the first head of Current Expenses
it is their duty to appropriate such sum of
money as is necessary for the County jail or
County Penitentiary and for the Poor
House and for the support Of lunatics or in
sane, and the various other items, fees of
coroners, election expenses, stationery,
advertising and so on-all under that head
of Current Expenses-for each of which
items the law requires specific appropria-
tion to be made, and the Solicitor of the
Board will advise the Board as to whether
or not there is any authority in the law to
transfer from one appropriation to the
other fail to find any. And if there is
no such authority, then the Board Is strict
| ly limited in its expenditures of the money
to the amount that is appropriated a5 the
beginning Of the year.
Now, it has been the practice of the
Board of Freeholders in the past to be gov
erred IN very great degree (not alto
gether, because we have had good men in
the Board at all times and these men have
in a measure checked the extravaganza and
the improvident notions of other members)
but more or less, it has been the custom of
the Board Of Freeholders to take the esti-
mates of the individual freeholders for
what they think they will need in their
respective townships and add them to-
gether and make the sum Of the total the
|
to the taxpayers that there is not any
sufficient and proper restriction placed
upon these individual estimates; free
holder gives the amount that he thinks he
will need in his township. There is no one
in the Board, with few exceptions, that
has the public spirit or the energy to pare
down, as it were, these estimates and say
that the amount that is asked for in
township is entirely disproportionate to the
ability of the county to make appropria-
tions for the whole county purposes.
Another thing in connection with these
appropriations, and an even more import-
ant matter, Is with reference to making
contracts for stone roads in excess of the
appropriations. During this last year the
chairman of the Finance committee of the
Board of Freeholders stood on the floor of
the court room at the session Of the Board
and protested against the action of the
Board and warned them that they were
i violating the law, and, according to the
newspaper reports, made use of such an ex-
preston as this: 'sIf you keep on in this
way, we will all get in jail'' In other
words, the Board of Freeholders, without
having the money to spend, entered into
contracts to the amount of $36 900 for stone
roads in excess of the appropriations of last
year. Now, they have no more right to
enter into contract and bind the county
for the payment Of money than they have
actually to spend the money; and | call
attention to it at this time with the re-
quest that presentment shall be made
concerning this matter, and if it does not
have the desired effect upon the Board of
Freeholders, then it will be the duty of
the Court at another term to direct that
indictments be found against the Free
holders who thus participate in such action
The only way that individual freeholders
can avoid liability in this line is for them
to insist that their names be recorded in
the negative on the minutes Of the clerk
In that way they will avoid liability
They cannot avoid liability by simply sit
ting still and not voting one way or the
other; they will all be assumed to be in
favor of these various measures and actions
unless their names are recorded in the neg
alive on the minutes Of the clerk.
The Judge dwelt at great length on the
scheme of stone road construction. He
showed that last year Burlington county,
with populace of So, 600 built % miles Of
stone roads, while the five largest cities and
counties Of the state, with population Of
! ], JOG, 600, built 211 miles. Burlington
county has 1863 miles Of county roads COM
lpleted and petitions on file for 121 miles
more. In spite Of this the county is de-
creasing in population and tax ratables
The act of 1908 requires that road super
visor be appointed, yes it is not complied
with, and the reason for Noncompliance,
the Judge says, is that the Individual free
holder, unlawfully, without any warrant
in law at all, takes charge Of the roads in
his township and the Board Of Freeholders
allows him to be paid, and the County
Auditor allows vouchers to go through for
such payment. A local freeholder has no
authority whatever over these roads, and it
/ is an improper use Of the county money