Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-03-06
Abolish the Fiscal Court.

Abolish the Fiscal Court.
1t is begging the question to
urge as the remedy for the lack
of good financial management
for the county the election of
good men" for justices of the
peace. In the first place we will
not elect the best qualified men
to that Office for the reason that
they will not accept the office.
And, again, if we could persuade
the very best equipped men in
each magisterial district to ac-
cept the Office the plan Of trying
to manage the finances Of the
county by that means is too cum
bersome and cannot produce the
best results.
l know that we are welded to
our idols and are loath to make
a change, even for the better,
but it seems that Kentucky has
had enough of the fiscal court
farcial finances to suggest the
adoption of the better plan. And
in suggesting the abolition Of the
fiscal court | realize that l am
proposing a thing that will be
bitterly opposed by many of our
citizens, especially by those who
aspire to the Office of esquire. "
However, it makes little differ
ence to me how much | trouble
the waters if some good may re-
suit from the stirring up the sed-
iment. am not a candidate for
Office, and if | were that would
not prevent my exercising the
right to have opinions and to
publicly express them.
~ u y
The recent legislature of Ken
lucky saw the need of changing
from the obsolete method and
enacted a law by which the vot-
ers of any county could remove
the management of the financial
affairs of any county from the
fiscal court and have commission
Z ers to look after the receipts and
I expenditures. From all over the
State comes the cry that the fis-
cal courts are not equal to the
task of properly managing the
financial affairs of the countless
The fault is not so much in the
men who compose these courts
as it is in the system. Most of
the other states of the Union
have discarded the antiquated
method to which Kentucky clings
so tenaciously.
y y
One of the causes that make
the fiscal courts a failure is that
the men who compose them are
not accustomed to dealing with
transactions Of the magnitude Of
the business Of a county. Usu-
ally farmers, they are accustom-
ed to thinking in small sums,
whenas, the need is for men who
can think intelligently in hun
dreds and thousands of dollars.
The affairs of a county are more
complicated than the affairs of a
single business, yet how many
of the voters would be willing to
put the management of a small
business in the hands of the
average fiscal court? The need
of the county is to have its bust
ness carried on in as careful,
painstaking and systematic a
way as any other business. Then
there is a lack of individual re-
sponsibility that attends the
members of the court. If the
patient taxpayer gets FESTIVE and
inquiring, is is so easy to place
the blame on other shoulders,
Plainly speaking, the manage
ment of county affairs by fisca
courts is a fiat failure.
~ -
What is the remedy? Easily
answered. county commission
of three. Let three good bust
ness men be elected and empow
cred to direct the financial poll
cies of the county. Let them be
securely bonded to hold them re
sponsible for the faithful per