Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-08-06
NIL vorLy;la Ennuirer ia considera.

The Yorkville Enquirer is considera-
bly troubled because the county OH
Gals, especially the clerk Of court, nave
not been keeping an itemiZed state
ment of receipts and expenditures as
required by law. The Enquirer says
II would like to know how much the
clerk is paid for his services, and be
lieves the general public would ike 10
know also.
The Herald is not familiar with the
law requiring the officials OF the u
ty to keep q record OF the receipts ana
expenditures for inspection by the pup
lie and until the recent report OF the
grand Jury did not know there was
such q requirement, but naturally pre-
sumed that such records would be kept
regardless of statute requirement.
We do not believe that h clerk OF
court would consider taking any Zee
to which he was not entitled, nor DO
we think The Enquirer desires the In
formation 1t Is calling for In order to
CHECK him up" 1t is simply a matter
of keeping within the requirements OF
the law; something that should be
done by every citizen, but more espe-
cially by those who have beer sworn 10
obey and enforce the law.
The whole solution of this proplem
lies in the hands Of the county leglsla-
tors. The Herald believes the YORK
delegation could perform no better ana
lasting service to the citizens OF YORK
county than by putting all county om-
cials on a salary basis. paying them
commensurate with their services. A
county as rich as York could well al
ford to pay all the county officials ade-
ouate salaries and then she would save
thousands of dollars a year by secur-
ing to the county the fees now received
by the several officials. Then every
citizen in the county would know just
how large salary each official in the
county was receiving. Then every
item paid into the various offices would
have to be accredited to the county
under the proper heading. AS the Her.
aid understands the matter, the several
officials, such a. clerk, treasurer, pro-
pate Judge, sheriff, etc, are PAID a GER
tain salary and they are allowed to COL
lect in addition certain fees Tor per
forming duties for the public. OF
course. the salaries are so small that
officials could not live without receiv-
ing fees. The additions to the salaries
to make them adequate woulu add sew
eral thousand dollars to the expenses
Of the county, but we are firmly of thu
opinion that far more than this sum
would be turned into the treasury OF
the county from fees collected.
We believe, furthermore, that the
salary basis would prove more salts
factory to the county officials them
selves, as a whole. We know some
Of the officials are not receiving sala-
ries in keeping with the services they
perform. Their salaries should be in
creased so as to put them on an equal
footing with the other officials. in so far
as their service to the public Is con-
cerned.
Let us put the county officials on a
salary basis at the next session OF the
.legislature.-Rock Hill Herald.
The Yorkville Enquirer would like to
see these itemized statements simply
because the law requires them. That
law has been on the statute books for
a long time, and it has not been obeyed
for many years.
Until 1913 there was a statute re-
quiring the clerk of the court Of York
county to pay over to the county treas
urer for ordinary county purposes, all
receipts in excess of $4,000 a year, and
so far as the records show the clerk
Of the court has never paid over any
thing.
AS things stand, the presumption is
that the clerk Of the court has never
received in excess of $4,000 a year, and
compliance with the law as SOUGHT by
the grand jury will show whether this
is only a presumption or a fact.
We agree with the Herald in the
proposition that the county should
abolish the system Of paying officials
through a system Of fees. We think all
fees should go to the county, and that
the officials should receive fair and lib
eral salaries.