The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-30
SALARY RAISES IN
LAW SUPPLEMENTS
Increases for County Officers
Must Be Cared for by
taxpayers

Ramsey county taxpayers will find a
number of legislative legacies in the
form Of increased assessments when
they come to figure out their next
years taxes.
A number Of Ramsey county bills
were put through both branches of the
legislature, and nearly every one re-
lating to Ramsey county means more
compensation for its public servants.
Because. the men behind the bills
were directly interested, and because
the general public was only indirectly
concerned, no effort was made to de-
feat the bills and they appear in the
law supplements as reminders of the
evil of legislative interference in
county and city government.
When taxes are increased to meet
the extraordinary expenditures nee
essarily meant by the new laws, then
the taxpayers will awake to the fact
that they have suffered by this legisla-
ture.
Big Fund for Clerk Hire
One Of the most striking evidences
of the public Indifference resulting in
bad law relates to the compensation
of the county auditors office Auditor
Z. G. Krahmer's salary has been in
creased by a new law to $4,000 a year.
Some $500 which the auditor receives
for services on commissioners COM
mittees will swell his annual compen-
sation to $4,S00. The same law appro-
PIRATES $1,000 annually for clerk hire
in the auditors office, placing the office
on practically the same basis as the
county auditor of Hennepin county,
despite the difference i'm favor of Hen
nepin of the assessed valuation of the
county.
The salary of the county physician
was raised by the legislature from
$4,000 to $1,000 year.
Additional compensation was voted
In law passed by the legislature to
the third assistant in the county at
torney's office. The third assistant
will receive an increase from 5000 to
$1,000 a year, and the salary of the
stenographer in the office is raised
from $40 to $50 a month.
Five hundred dollars a year has
veen voted by the legislature to the
Ramsey county surveyor. The ap-
preparation is made for team hire. The
courts had decided against claims filed
by former county surveyors for car
riage hire in inspecting roads. The
governor vetoed a bill to give Gates A.
Johnson, a former county surveyor,
compensation for team hire inasmuch
as the courts had held that his charge
was illegal.
Clerk Gets Increase
A persimmon was found by the clerk
OF the probate court at the legislative
session. An increase in salary for that
official from S1,500 to $500 a year was
ordered, but as the change is made in
the code 1t is not effective until March
1, 1906.
Another bill resulted in an increase
In the compensation of the Ramsey
county commissioners. The seven
county commissioners are each given
an increase of $3.50 a year. The new
law gives them $3.50 a year instead of
$500, the present salary attached to
the jobs. The increase means a total
of $1,050 a year to the taxpayers of
the county. While it is not generally
known, the code gives the county COM
missioners four year terms of office,
and the county, which had counted on
having the present commissioners for
only two years, will have the dose
doubled.
New laws passed by the legislature
confer on the county commissioners
extraordinary powers. One law gives
the county commissioners $4,000 a
year to expend in and about navigable
lakes. The law gives the county board
the widest latitude in the expenditure
of the money. Originally intended to
apply only to Hennepin county and
Lake Minnetonka, the Ramsey county
commissioners saw opportunities con-
veyed by the law, and it was made ap-
plicable to- Ramsey by making the law
apply to counties of 10000 population
and over