The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-02-20
TAXPAYERS PAY
County Commissioners Cost the
Public Good Money
VARY WITH COUNTIES
Much More Costly in Stearns Than
in Otter Tail and DougIas--Offi-
C!al FIGURES For 1t

perusal Of the financial state
ments for the year 1907 of Stearns
Douglas and Otter Tail counties makes
interesting reading.
All three are large counties, Otter
Tail being about twice as large as
Stearns and Stearns about one third
larger than Douglas.
The Herald has in it's possession the
financial statements of all three cOur-
ties; that of Stearns being the one
issued by Der NCrdstern Of ST.
Cloud, that of Douglas sent out by
the Post-News of Alexandria and that
of Otter Tail published by Wheelock's S
Weekly of Fergus Falls.
These official statements, sworn to
(by ]. C. Crever auditor OF SteaIns
county, w. L. Lincoln auditor of Ot-
:er Tail county and E. P. Wright audi
tor of Douglas county, show that, ex-
elusive Of work On county bitches, the
Stearns county commissioners recelv-
ed for their 1907 services the sum
OF $3,34S.52; OGter Tai county COM
missioners received s1,47O.8O; while
Douglas county commissioners gath
cred in the sum of $926.SS.
The sums of money paid to the COM
missiorers of each county for their
services on county bitches are scat
tered through the financial statements
and it would take considerable time
to dig them out and put in shape for
perusal, consequently The Herald has
net used them in this article.
Careful perusal of the Stearns coun-
ty statement, sworn to by Auditor
John C. Crever, shows that the fol-
lowing sums were paid the individual
commissioners, exclusive of ditch
work: J. d. Kowalkowski, first dis
trict, $611.7O; H. F. Meyer, second
district, $713.57; George Engelhard,
third district, $577.47; Ignatius Kram-
err, fourth district, $671.71; J. H. Can
field, fifth district, $774.07. This
makes a total of $3,34S.52, exclusive
of ditch work.
The amounts paid 10 the Otter Tail
commissioners, exclusive of ditch
work, range from $261.36 to S348.S6.
The amounts paid to Douglas coun-
ty commissioners, exclusive of ditch
work, range from $2.S1 up to $1S3.O1.
These totals, however, stand forth
in the three reports, namely that, ex-
elusive of work on county bitches,
Stearns county paid it's five commits
sioners, in 1907, the sum of $3,34S.52; !;
Otter Tail county, $1,47O.SO; Douglas
county, $926.SS
In other words, Stearns county, in
1907, paid it's five commissioners, ex-
elusive of ditch work, two and d quar-
ter times as much as Otter Tail paid
it's five commissioners, and Otter Tail
is twice as large as Stearns.
Douglas county, with considerably
less area, got off with a sum about
one-fourth as large as did Stearns
Striking averages on these official
figures, Stearns county's five commits
sioners cost the county $669.7O pei
man; Otter Tails five cost that coun-
ty $294.6S per man; Douglas county's
cost $115.61 per man.
The statements of the three cOun-
ties are not made out in the same
manner, hence it is difficult to secure
satisfactory figures. For instance
Stearns county's commissioner bills
bunch salary and mileage in most
cases, while in others they are sep
arate; in Douglas county the bills are
separate in most cases; while in Otter
Tail there is nothing to distinguish
between salary and mileage.