The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-04-12

anu 10 JON WIFI you III your uIScl
Since l am only on the pro-
gram for fifteen minutes, l
thought the best thing I could do
would be to bring you up to date
on the compensation of the clerks
office. Since ! am an auditor and
deal in figures and can only talk
figures, l thought perhaps l
would pass a few figures along
to you. have taken the figures
gave you two years ago in Or
lando and have brought them up
to date.
The figures l have here were
taken from the Comptroller's re-
ports on county finances; there
fore, they are official. 1t seems
rather strange to have to report
to you in this day and time of
high prices, high taxes, high
salaries, and general initiation that
the gross receipts of your office
have declined almost seven per-
cent since 1889. These receipts in
'39 were 81 million against $l.8
thousand in 40. The clerks are
certainly out of tune with the
times. / believe the decline in
receipts reflects the decrease in
the volume of tax redemption
fees. Property taxes are more
current, and delinquencies have
declined; therefore, the volume
of these fees has decreased. Prob
ably most tax redemption de-
partments are not paying their
way at the present time.
In this connection, it is inter
esting to note that there has
been no general revision in the
fees of the clerks office since
1927. doubt whether you will
find many private businesses
charging the same fees today for
their. services that they charged
"a years ago.
On the expense side of the
ledger. we note il cost you rs
per cent more TO do business
at the same old stand than ii
did 10 years ago. While gross
receipts were decreasing. ex-
penses were increasing: they
jumped from $500 thousand in
SO 10 over Sl.2 million in l949.
rt4 TO- aa44 Is
Your employees and supply
and equipment houses have
done better than you have. and
they are not politicians.
But, and this is the pay-off,
your average compensation has
decreased more than four per-
cent since 1889. Let me repeat
that again: your average compen-
sation has decreased more than
four percent since 1899. This COM
pensation is also based on a
1927 law. Not only have the fees
for your services not been chang
ed in "a years, but your compen-
sation has also not been changed
in that length of time. 1t is still
the first $4,000 of the net income
(gross receipts less expense),
plus go percent of the next $4,000,
plus 40 percent of the next $4,000,
not to exceed $500. This does not
mean that every clerk receives a
salary of $500 a year because
the records show that in l949,
under the formula set out in the
1927 law for computing clerk S
compensation, only 18 clerks re-
ceived The r1aximum compensa-
tipn BposSible under the law. The
others t49 of them received varyS
ing amounts from $1,000 to just
under $500. AS a matter of fact,
only 33 clerks were above $4,000,
which includes the 18 already
mentioned. The other "a clerks
were all below $4,000 The aver
age compensation of all clerks in
l949 was $500. Now this $500
does not represent take home pay,
for the following reason:
In 1927 when the present
county officers salary law was
passed, state and county officials
and employees were not subject
to a federal income tax. Since
that time, in 1889 to be exact, the
United States Supreme Court
ruled and Congress later passed
a law, subjecting these officials
and employees to the federal in
come tax.
Today, the effect of the above
ruling and law has been to re-
duce the maximum compensation
of the clerk about $1,100 a year
if he has only one dependent be-
sides himself, and about 5000 if
he has two dependents. But
that is not all, the purchasing
power of the dollar has declined
The Federal Reserve Bank of
Atlanta says the 1889 dollar is
x.,o,&k al, q 20 =. A1I-3.