Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1906-09-11
ACTION OF ALDERMEN
ON POLICE PAY VOID.
law Requires Vote Of Majority
of Entire Council to Submit
Question to Voters.
ONLY 3 VOTED FOR IT.
Bare Majority of Five Present at
Last Meeting -Four Votes
Are Necessary.

Ine ACT 10 provide Tor schedule
of increase in the pay of policemen
will not be voted upon by the voters
of this city unless the Board of Alder
men again so decide as a section of
the legislature of New Jersey of
1905), states that a majority of the
entire Board of Aldermen must vote
in favor of it in order to have the
question submitted to the voters.
There were only five members of the
Board of Aldermen present at the
meeting a week ago last night when
the motion of Alderman Rossi to
submit the question of the acceptance
or rejection of the law to the voters,
was adopted by vote of 8 to 2. AS
three is majority of five, the motion
was declared to have been carried.
1t has been discovered, however,
that a majority of the whole board is
necessary to place the question on
the ballots, and the matter will not
members of the Board of Aldermen
SO vote, as there are seven in the
board. The matter will probably
again be brought up at an early
meeting.
When the attention of City Attor-
ney G. G. Hommann was called to
this section of the act this morning,
he said that it would require a vote
of the majority of all the members of
the Board of Aldermen and that the
action taken at the last meeting is
null and void The law provides that
1.-The question of the acceptance or
rejection of this act may be submit
ted at any general election upon the
order of the common council or other
governing body of such city, express
ed by resolution and voted for by a
majority of all the members of said
body"
ut would require a majority vote
of the entire council even if the law
simply specified a majority of the
council, said City Attorney HON.
mann, but where it requires a ma
iority of all the members of the coun-
Gil, that makes it doubly certain"
What the Act Says.
A statement of the provisions of
the act is instructive and interesting
for the voters The law shall not
apply in any city unless the voters
cast a majority of ballots for it. The
members of the local department are
sanguine of its acceptance if it is put
on the ballots. 1t is to be voted on
in Plainfield at this election, it is be-
| lieved.
When the question of the accept
ance of the act is submitted to the
voters of any city, there shall he
printed on the ballots the word FOR"
and the word against" above and
Immediately preceding the words
"the act to increase compensation Of
police department" If the word
for be marked off or defaced upon
the ballot, it shall be counted as a
vote against acceptance of this act;
if the word against" be marked off
or defaced, it shall be counted as a
vote in favor of accepting the act. In
case neither the words for" or
against" are marked off or defaced,
it shall not be counted.
In any city in which this act shall
become operative by the vote of the
people, the new schedule shall go in
to effect on the first day of the fol-
lowing month, which would, in this
city's case, be December /. This is
provided by the act Notwithstanding
that there may not be any existing
appropriation or fund to permit of an
increase, and the Board of Alder
men is given permission by the terms
of the law to borrow u sufficient sum
to cover the increase fbr the remain
der of the current fiscal year, or per-
init the money to be paid out of any
money of the city and shall put such
sum in the next tax levy.
The act does not apply to cities
known as seaside resorts, nor does it
have anything to say regarding the
chiefs salary, but the governing body
of any city would probably raise the
chiefs salary in proportion, if the
law were accepted.
The Salary Schedule.
The schedule of salaries provided
in the act is as follows:
aids, sergeants and lieutenants,
each not less than thirteen hundred
and fifty dollars per year; detectives,
each not less than thirteen hundred
dollars per year; round-sergeants, or
roundsmen, each not less than eleven
hundred dollars per year, and police
men, each not less than seven humid
red and fifty dollars for the first year
of service not less than eight hundred
dollars for the second year of service,
not less than eight hundred and fifty
dollars for the third year of service,
not less than one thousand dollars
for the fourth year of service, and
not less than one thousand dollars for
the fifth year of service; provided,
that each policeman now receiving
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