Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-12
ALDERMEN COST
TAXPAYERS MUCH
[Continued from First Page.l

conducting police court had been
continued.
Figures on the books at the city
treasurer's office show that alder
men were paid S226.53, last year, as
| fees on cases for violation of q
! city ordinance. Alderman James B.
| DeShong, John B. Nicholas and A.
NJ. Lands received the fees. Had
the hearings during 1917 been held
by the mayors who held office this
money would have remained in the
treasury and then placed in the gem
eral fund at the end of the year.
Easy For the Mayor
! The ordinance giving mayors the
right to call in an alderman as a
! committing magistrate was intro
| duced and passed while the late
| Mayor b. S. Meals was in office. 1t
was read in place by him August
10, 1916. Since that time all pris-
oners held by the police have been
brought before aldermen for hear
lnss. The ordinance also provides
that the alderman who is serving
snail receive all fees from the city
or county which he would receive
were the hearings to be conducted
in his own office. In addition to re-
ceiving the costs for city cases total
ling S226 the aldermen last wear re
! ceived hundreds of dollars from tbe
county which otherwise would have
gone TO the city treasury.
! Ihe law provides that an alderman
\ shall receive certain fees for ans,
cases returned for quarter sessions
court or when discharged cases are
reported after criminal prosecutiop
has been brought and the defcndanr
| released.
| County Also Loses
AS no record is kept OF cases which
the aldermen heard in their own Of
/ hces last year and cases which they
| disposed of while at police court. ac-
curate totals on the fees winch they
received but which would have been
paid to the city treasury were mot
available for the city and county Of
hcials interested in the present hear
| ing system. In case the Mavor nre-
sided as police court, all fees on court
cases would revert to the CITY treas
ury, and discharged cases womb not
be reported to the county, with tho
result that hundreds of dollars Vould
be saved the county.
Not Much fn Favor
The County Commissioners early
last year in studying the annual re-
port OF the County Controller for
1916 made a recommendation that
the Mayor conduct his own hearings
! and thereby save the county the
fees. but with the many changes in
office last year the Recommendation
never was considered.
Although recommendation has
been made that a committing magis-
trate should be provided for police
/ court at fiXed salary it was said
to-day Council is not likely to creatp
a new position at the Mayors office
this year because of the enormous IN
crease in the budget for that de-
partment. Last year the cost to
maintain the police department YVES
SS4,345.05.
For 1918 s105,765 has been provid-
ed for the department, giving in
crease for all policemen, providing
for an addition of five natrolmen and
enc sergeant to the force and for ad-
ditional clerks. The appropriation
set aside is by far the largest pre-
vided in recent years and represents
an increase of approximately twenty
FIVE per cent
Fines and forfeitures last year to-
tailed $10,701, all paid into the city
treasury. The total so far this wear
| is $2,6S9.27, covering all returns of
fines imposed from December to
March and paid into the treasury in
the following amounts: February IS,
December fines AMI forfeitures
$S72.72; March 4. s972.s0; March Is,
$1,S43.75. All funds collected at DC
lice court hearings in 1917 were re-
turned each month on the first or
second day of the month.