Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1955-06-10
144-Page Report Shows
Mayor Short S11,707.39
Legal TangIe Over
Fine Distributions

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Mayor Z. P. Speasmaker of Lon
don came under fire from the State
Auditors office Wednesday when
the auditor made public a finding
against the mayor involving money
not paid which the state claims.
Total findings amounted to SILL
707.39; including S6,001.39 in fines
collected which the mayor failed to
pay to the city; S5,471.00 in costs
which the mayor failed to pay into
the city in cases heard in the first
seven months of 1854, and S235.OO
in two checks accepted in court
cases by the mayor which bounced
on presentation for payment.
Mayor Speasmaker has paid the
$6,001.39 in fines which were due,
but has refused to pay the other
amounts, basing his refusal to pay
the collected costs on the fact that
the law which provides such costs
be paid into the city treasury was
passed after his Inauguration No
reason was given for the failure TO
pay the two bad checks.
The audit here covered the per-
iod from January /, 1852 to July
81, 1854, and included other phases
of city government, disclosing
other facts. The Golfers of the gen.
eral fund of the city were swelled
by $69,286.73 in highway patrol
fines. The law provides that such
fines must be paid into the motor
vehicle license bureau and used for
street maintenance. not for general
operating expenses. General oper-
ating expenses, however, had eat
en- not only this cash sum, but also
was SIT 7,807.84 overdrawn at the
time of the audit.
Mayor Speasmaker's court here
was described as one of the busiest
in the state, with 5,895 cases heard
in the period total fines and costs
collected amounting to SIS, ,364.22
The report states that the total the
mayor was allowed to keep of this
figure was S19,317.87, in 1852 and
So.
The examiner found 116 cases in
which prisoners, committed to the
county Jail for non-payment of
fines, later paid the balance to gain
release. Twenty-nine of these pay
ments were not entered in the
mayors books. Twenty-seven in
which receipts for fines paid were
not entered in the mayors records
involved S53290. Many instances
were found in which the mayor en-
tered in his cash book a lesser
amount than was actually paid,
the auditor said.
In addition, the 144-page report
stated that properly drawn arrest
warrants were exceedingly rare
and that the books were kept in a
careless and haphazard" manner.
The audit itself required 169 work.
ing days for veteran auditor, who
had to add and balance 446 pages
in the cash books where the mayor
had failed to do so. This added
greatly to the cost of the audit to
the city.
The operation here was contrast
ed with the situation in Lebanon.
where S150,095 was collected in a
33-month period. The audit Of the
Lebanon mayor took only four
pages. All fines and costs collected
in Lebanon are distributed month
ly. Mayor Speasmaker says, Yes.
and the Lebanon Mayor has two
clerks to help him, too"
The law which the mayor chal-
lenges provides that effective jan
uary l, 1854, the mayor would turn
over court costs to the city. Realiz-
ing that this would cause a SUBJ
stantial decrease in the mayors in
come, London City Council passed
an increase in the mayors salary
from $1,000 per year to $4,000 per
year, which the mayor accepted.
The increase was effective in 1854.
and was to come from the increase
in fines collected.
The audit itself cost the city be-
tween 8 and $4,000 due to the
time involved in checking the ill
kept books. The auditor was here
for more than a year. but only 169
working days are charged against
the actual audit.
When asked for comment. the
Mayor said, Sure. I don't say |
didn't make any mistakes, but if
I'm guilty of anything, it's no more
than bad judgment.
The law says you can't
raise or lower public office sal
ary during the occupancy of the
office, and I contend my nomina-
ton in May was as good as cleo
ton and that I'm entitled to keen
the collected costs as part of my
salary. They're going to have to
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