The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-05-16
COST OF GOVERNMENT IN sHo.
sHoNE COUNTY.

sHoNE COUNTY.
The brief synopsis of the report of
the experts who recently audited the
books of the county. published in the
last issue Of the Miner. contained some
figures which have impressed the tax
payers with the high price they are
paying for county government under
the present administration, as compar-
ed with other counties of the state.
OF course 1t would not be fair to
compare county expense in Shoshone
county with those in sparsely settled
counties where salaries correspond to
the low standard of wages and must
of necessity be held down to the min
imum. But according to the expert
accountants, "Bannock county, of
which Pocatello is the capital town,
most nearly approaches Shoshone in
wealth. it being per cent larger than
the latter, but In many ways the two
cheap county. 1t has great payrolls
of well paid labor represented by rail-
way employees and the standard of
wages compares favorably with that
of Shoshone county. Salaries paid
county officers are believed to be as
high as those paid here and the coun-
ty has double the population
Under these circumstances one
would expect the cost of county gov
eminent in Bannock county to be
higher than 1t is in Shoshone but on
the contrary it Is very much less. Ac-
cording to the expert accountants who
have just completed the audit of this
county, the total cost of strictly
county government" in Bannock coun-
ty in 1916 was $4,000. In Shoshone
county during the same year it was
$1O8,000 or $4,000 more than it was
in Bannock county. In Latah county
the cost of county government in 1916
was $4,000, less than half the cost in
Shoshone county. In Kootenai it was
$4,000, and In Bonner it was $68,0OO.
In Shoshone county it costs the
taxpayers $4,000 year to care for
the INDECENT poor and sick, and yet
we boast that this county is almost
free from poverty. In Latah county
the cost under this heading is only
SIS, 400. For this class in Shoshone
county a palatial home has been pro-
vided at an expense of over 100000 to
the taxpayers. but who were not con-
suited regarding the expenditure, and
which imposes a heavy expense for
maintenance whether IL contains one
or one hundred. But this is
long story which will be taken up
some other time
Another expense in this county
which does not show up well in COM
parison with other counties is the
cost of boarding prisoners The cost
IF boarding prisoners In this county
has increased from $1,000 in 1918 to
$4,000 in 1917. In Bannock county
With a much larger population and
with larger criminal ele-
nent to contend with, due to the
loating population that drifts through
oocatello, the cost of boarding pris-
'ners in 1917 was only $2700, while
n Latah it was only $780, in Kootenai
1,10O, and in Bonner only $500.
These features of the report afford
Interesting material for the considera-
ion of taxpayers They will be fur
her discussed in these columns. as
yell as many other matters in connec-
ion with the county government, from
II of which 1t appears that the people
Shoshone county are paying {
nightly high price for the service they
re getting, much higher than the
eople in other counties of the state.
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