Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1906-01-17
LETTER FROM SENATOR EARLE.
Discusses the Tax Situatlon--T Talks oil a levy
for Two Now River Bridges. 80.

Columbia, January l5.-To tho People
of Oconee County: Your Senator and
Representative are at the post Of duty,
and facing many very serious problems,
but our attention bas been absorbed, up
to this time, with the internal matters of
the county. We were surprised to find
the real facts as we have since reaching
Columbia, aud we are anxious that the
people shall know 80 that they may place
the blame where it belongs. We, there
fore, ask that you read the facts and pom
der them well.
The tax levy was slightly reduced for
the year 1905 for our county. Even with
the increased State levy it was, all told,
Ia 1920 mills. This gave an equal
amount for current expenses as the pre-
Vious year, but the dispensary money has
had some influence on the sum total. In
1904 the receipts from the dispensary for
county purposes were S3,720, in 1905
S2,35275. These amounts will have to
be bbrne in mind for, our future calcula-
tions. With the tax levied for last wear
we are now confronted with deficit in
current expenses of $4,000, as reported
by the County Commissioners. This
alone will require about two more mills
OF taxes--two dollars to every one who
has thousand dollars worth of prom
erty. We are confronted with this In
spite of the following law:
ut shall be unlawful for any public
officer, State or county, authorized to SO
contract, to enter into or contract, for
any purpose whatsoever, in q sum in
excess of the tax levied, or the amount
appropriated, for the accomplishments
of such purpose; and on yiolat-
ing the provisions OF this section, he shall
be deemed guilty of felony, and upon
conviction thereof shall be punished by
a fine not exceeding FIVE thousand dol
lars and not less than five hundred dol
lars, and by imprisonment at hard labor
in the State penitentiary for period not
exceeding five years, nor less than one
year, or either or both, in the discretion
of the Court"
We are inclined, at present, to leave
this deficit to be made out of the bonds
this year lie eight mills for ordinary
county and two mills for past indebted
ness. This will run up our total levy to
10 or 20 mills, to say nothing of the Max-
we'll bridge or Chapman's Ford bridge.
In other words, the demands made upon
us will advance the taxes about 33a per
cent, If the two bridges above mem
mills more. II the valuable records in
the Clerks Office are to be protected that
will require an additional levy, and it ia
q demand that we should very soon meet.
We have records there that are worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars that
are exposed and might be destroyed in a
night. We have records there that are
in such dlapidated condition that they
cannot long be neglected. To provide
for this Improvement, which is a work of
absolute necessity, will call for / mill
levy.
Your delegation, at the last session of
the General Assembly, undertook to put
the Clerk of the Court upon a salary
basis of S120 month, but he was not
satisfied with that small sum and carried
the matter into the Court. The Circuit
Court upheld his contention that She
Act was unconstitutional, and the case
is now in the Supreme Court. We ex-
pected that the taxpayers would be, to
some extent, relieved by revenue from
that Office The work of that office has
been very much lightened by the printed
books that are in use and that are paid
for by the county; for instance, the
statute provides that the Clerk shall re-
ceive for recording deeds, per hundred
words, ten cents. The average number
of words in deeds that are recorded by
the Clerk is about 1876, including proof
anu uOWeT, Wnlle tnOB6 tNaC are printed
average about 213, making 4. totai OF 46g.
We have merely scratched the surface
here to show our reasons for our action
as public servants. We have not sought
to involve any one in litigation, but we
have tried to be just, as between the tax
payer and the tax eater.
In this connection we want to call at
tentiOn to statute which requires every
county officor to keep an account of his
receipts from his Office and file report
of the same with the County Supervisor
annually, and be kept for public inspec-
tion. Will some one answer how many
of these reports have been filed?s We
do not make these comments to irritate
any one, for we bear the warmcst per-
sonal feeling for all of our county uill-
GERS. We are glad to see them prosper
Gus, but we are in the exercise at pub
lie trust, and we must prove faithful to
it. We must guard the interest of the
taxpayer as we'll as the tax eater, as best
we can.
We do not expect our County Commits
sioners to build roads and bridges with
out means, but when are we to call
haltP We now have forty Thousand
dollar debt, and IL things run in this
loose way the problem may become more
serious. Respectfully, j. r. Earle
"The Master and Judge of Probate file
annual reports in the office of tho County