The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1908-02-14

court, prosecuting criminals,
boarding and keeping pris-
oners salaries of employees,
clerks and officers working for
the county, records and office
supplies, insurance and repairs
on county buildings and a
multito"S multi, OF faan;dse misfellaneoas Lane us
p. eN e expenditures to
80 rs the compensation of
lose working for the county,
estimated at $26, 10000 for the
present fiscal year. The next
heaviest item is the adminis-
tration of justice, estimated at
$15, 1000 for the present fiscal
year; and the next is the
maintenance of the poor,
estimated at 100000. 1t will
be noticed that these three
items alone slightly exceed
the total amount of the county
general fund. The board of
county commissioners has cal
culated that the fees from the
Register of Deeds office and
other fees collected by the
county will cover this deficiency
together with other miscell-
aneous county expenses.
The amount of salaries paid
to the county officers and en-
ployees appears high; if it is
high, it is because the law of
our state allows too high
salaries for county officers; the
clerks in the court house are
working at from $4,000 to
5000 per month and no deputy
has more than $500 per
month. A comparison with
the salaries paid to these
workers in other counties will
show that Bottineau county is
very conservative.
Aside from the salaries of
county officers, the most aggra-
vating and most provoking g
item of expense is that for the
administration of justice, which
to great extent means the
prosecution and punishment of
evil doers. Fifteen thousand
dollars for those purposes!
But let us not hate. those un-
fortunates or envy them the
cost of their punishment. Let
us remember that the greatest
folly and the greatest crime
that these people have COM
mitted is that of selecting the
wrong grand parents, and that
they are now being punished
for the sins of their fathers and
grandfathers. We may also
find some consolation in the
fact that the greater part of
the cost of the administration
of justice returns to the tax
payers, whence it came, in the
form of witness and juror fees.
The next item of county
taxes, amounting to Sc, 817.43,
is levied and collected for the
purpose of paying the interest
on the bonds of the county
issued in the lean years of the
past, and for the creating of
a sinking fund to pay these
bonds when they become due.
At the present time there is
more than ten thousand dollars
accumulated in the county bond
sinking fund safely deposited
separate from the other county
funds and drawing interest at
the rate of Z per cent per
annum. The board of county
commissioners is even now
attempting to redeem some of
the outstanding bonds, if the
bonds can be purchased at a
reasonable rate.
The next county tax is levied
and used for the construction
and repair of bridges and
amounts to over $15, 10000 as
above shown. This is the
greatest amount ever levied
for bridges in Bottineau county
and is necessitated by the con-
struction of the new. Mouse
River bridge, which has not
as yet been fully paid for, and
by the heavy demand for
bridges from all parts of the
county. .*#
The taxes for the county
special road fund and the
county delinquent road fund
are levied, collected and ex-
pended exclusively in the un-
organized portions of the
county; cities, villages and
civil townships pay not a
penny to these funds. The