Milford chronicle., 1922-03-03

collected, and the money thus collect
ed was put in a special account Il
the bank to be spent on the roads o
the respective districts. Each membe
Of the Levy Court carried an orde
book, being equivalent to a checl
book, and drew orders Of his own ac
cord on said funds without being coun
tersigned by anybody; and I, person
ally, know Of one case about eigh
years ago, where one member OF thu
Levy Court authorized. verbally, three
others to sign his name to his road
orders, making four In all signing
the same name, and no effort wal
made by anybody In authority to pu'
stop to It.
During the session Of the Legisla-
ture Of 1911, a bill was passed proVtd-
ing for a comptroller for Sussex coun'
ty. Prior to this time, the only checA
on the expenditures Of the members
Of the Levy Court for road work IN
his district was the report he made tc
the Levy Court, but you can plainly
see that as all ten members OF the
Levy Court were in exactly the same
boat, that Is, had spent all the road
money In their representative dis
tricts, therefore, you could hardly eX-
pect them to make a very close In
spection Of each others accounts.
It has been said that many a pair
of mules has been paid for by MEM
bers Of the Levy Court out Of the
countys money, but the county never
owned the mules, but I have no per-
sonal knowledge Of any such case.
After the Legislature Of 1911, the
county comptroller countersigned all
orders and was supposed to have some
control over these expenditures, along
with all other county expenditures,
but the law was still in force which
required that money raised for road
purposes should be spent strictly in
the district in which the money was
raised.
County orders, or checks, prior to
January, 1917, were often bought and
sold at a tremendous discount. Only
last week I heard one Of our promi-
nent citizens say he sold an order for
SIS, which was drawn for $780, a dis
count Of 25 per cent. This was a num-
ber Of years ago, It is true and was
caused very largely by the fact that
a few people at the county seat always
had their pockets full Of county
orders; and, as soon as any Of the col
Iectors would come in with money,
thew would ascertain how much money
they had and would Immediately,
through influence or otherwise, get
their orders cashed as far as the
money would go, leaving others who
held county orders, high and dry, If
they did not possess this pull or In
so 1t was a case OF take What
you could get.
None Of the banks during this time
would accept a county order as cash
tenn, but only accepted them as a
collection item; and, personally, I
nave deposited the same order in the
)ank at least three times, II not more,
before It would be reported paid.
As each Levy Court commissioner,
lnder the old system, had the spend
ng Of all the road money In his dis
-ict; he, Of course, personally appoint
Z the road supervisors for his dis
rict-another strictly political ap-
and, in many cases when
he political friends Of the road super
-isors had nothing else to do, they
worked out better taxes on the road,
Of the fact that this period |
f tdleness was generally in the win
er. which Is certainly the wrong time |
( the year to work dirt roads. Our
nancial affairs got so deplorable that |
law was enacted prohibiting tax coll
,ctors from accepting our own coun-
Y orders In payment Of our county
axes.
Under the old system, bills and ac-
ounts were referred to a committee
{ three members Of the Levy Court,
nd the report Of this committee was
accepted as whole instead
2 the individual members Of the Levy
ourt carefully scrutinizing each bill
nd account; and, after these bills
rere ordered paid and orders drawn
nd signed to pay them, these orders
ere held in the office Of the clerk
{ peace until the party to whom the
rder was drawn, either came to the
flee personally for the order or
ave instructions to others to call Tor
lem. Today, there are hundreds OF
-ders drawn and signed still remain
Ig in the order books, which have
ever been delivered to the parties to :
horn they belonged; and. during the
Irlv mart of 1917, the new Levy Court
? resolution, declared all orders can
lied remaining in, the books be-
veen April 8, 1897 to December 1,
16; which, as previously stated
,voI,ared several hundred.
Under the old Levy Court system, no
ember Of the Levy Court felt under
,ligations to any one in the county =
ltside of his district, which meant
at the county was run as a olstrlct
forgetting that the county /
a whole should be the unit OF gov
nment. .
The act Of the Legislature Of 1915
divided that in the election to be held
November, 1915, a Levy Court
ould be elected, composed OF three
smbers; one to serve for two years;
@ for four years; and one for six
ars; and, every two years thereafter'
Q commissioner should be elected to
rye for six years. Each candidate
ts voted on throughout the county
stead of by districts.
The 1915 law provided that the In
ming Levy Court should put in
W system Of bookkeeping; and II
to employ an expert ac-
lntant to install the same, which
IS done, and for the last five years,
> Levy Court has had a weekly
Ltement every Tuesday, giving
nplete debit and credit balance OF
cry account on the comptroner's
ger.
This law, also, provided that the
Wy Court should designate certain
IDS leading from town to town, or
m station to town, az "Class b.
ads;" and, to maintain these "Class
roads, the Levy Court was author
d, when levying the county tax. to
Ike one levy, regardless Of district