The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-03-20
Interested Citizen Cites
Figures In Operation OF
County Criminal Court
Shows That Portion Of
Expense To County AS
Represented Is Far In
Excess Of Amount

LA(CSS va f1lAVuAAk
Additional information touch
ing on the proposal to abolish the
Criminal Court of Record of Mon
roe County was given The Citi-
zen today by a taxpayer after he
had studied The legal notice OF
Representative Bernie C. PapY's
intention 10 introduce an act
at next session of the Legis-
lafure to do away with the court.
The legal notices are being pub
lishcd in The Citizen by Mr..
Papy in accordance with a state
law requiring publication of such
proposals for a period of 80 days
that the public may be fully in
formed.
I'm only a citizen, not law
yer or an interested party in the
present controversy, but I've TAX
en- the trouble to inform myself
of the facts in the case from the
official records at County Court
house., this taxpayer informed
The Citizen. According to fig
ures appearing in a story pub
lished by The Citizen Wednes-
day, Mr.. Papy is under the i'm
preston it costs the county &c.
U55.40 for operation of the Grim
inal Court every year. 1t was
inferred that this sum was raised
by taxation. The statement is
very misleading.
Salaries Paid
I'm the article it was set forth
that Judge William v. Albury OF
Criminal Court is paid $2,9CO an
nually. / lind that his actual sal
any is $4,000 annually. These are
the facts:
The salary of the judge is ST.
400, the salary and conviction fees
of the county solicitor last year
amounted to $2,395, the salary OF
the clerk is $500, the fees OF
the bailiff were $108, the witness
fees amounted to $255.20, and the
cost of interpreters was $l2
Therefore, the total cost of the
court last year was $6,670.20, be-
cause the fees of the jurors
which amounted to $2,335.30
were paid by the State of Florida
In addition, the court collect
ed from fines and forfeitures the
sum of $2,025.86. Deduct the sum
of $4,361.06, the total amount paid
by the state and the revenue
produced by the court from fines
and forfeitures, and it is imme-
diately apparent that instead Of
costing $9.055.40, as alleged, the
actual cost, of operating the court
was $2,309.14.
Asset Instead Of Loss
For this total of $2,309.14
Monroe county received total OF
$3.50 hours of labor, which, al
Is cents an hour, far below the
average wages paid laborers ir
this county, produced $2,387.85
That means net revenue for the
county from the activities Of
Criminal Court amounted tc
$76.71 last year-instead of a loss
of $9,055.40, as figured by Mr.
Papy.
Assuming a case: Suppose l..
705 cases, of which 1877 were traf
fic cases, were tried in municipal
court. That would ! leave ,56S
cases which might aSe tried ir
Justice of the Peace courtss NNer,
it not for the Criminal Courto o
Record those cases would have
cost the county ah added $1S,.
224, figured on. the basis of the
present fees provided by statute
for handling such cases in the
courts of the Justices of the
Peace.
Add to this figure the jurors
fees, which under such procedure
would have to be paid by Mon
roe county instead of the state
and the average man can easil,
see just how much viii be saveC
by Monroe county under the bill
abolishing the court.