State v. Obert
| Decision Date | 10 March 1894 |
| Citation | 53 Kan. 106,36 P. 64 |
| Parties | STATE v. OBERT. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Error from district court, Rawlins county; G. Webb Bertram, Judge.
Action by H. H. Obert against the state of Kansas. There was judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Modified.
John T. Little, Atty. Gen., and R. S. Hendricks, for the State.
J. C Cole and Bertram & McElroy, for defendant in error.
This case comes to this court upon an agreed statement of facts concerning certain fees which came into the hands of H. H. Obert, as county treasurer of Rawlins county, for two years from the second Tuesday of October, 1888, to October 14,
1890. Rawlins county has a population of more than 5,000, and less than 10,000. Section 4, Sess. Laws 1875, provides: "The county treasurers of the several counties of this state shall be allowed by the board of county commissioners of their respective counties, as full compensation for their services, the following salary: *** In counties having a population of more than 5,000 and not over 10,000, $1,500 per annum." Gen. St. 1889, par. 3023. Obert, as treasurer, collected $422.50 for issuing 1,690 school land receipts. Gen. St. 1868, c. 94, § 9; Sess. Laws 1876, c. 122, § 22; Laws 1886, c. 154, § 1. We think that a county treasurer is required to account for these fees, in order that the amount of the same may be deducted from each quarterly installment of his salary. Sess. Laws 1875, c. 93, § § 3, 5; Sess. Laws 1877, c. 107, § 1; Commissioners v. Van Slyck, (lately decided,) 35 P. 299. It was held in that case that, "under the general statutes relating to fees and salaries, county clerks are entitled to no more compensation than the salaries fixed by law; and all fees received by them for official services should be accounted for and deducted from each quarterly allowance of salary." Mr. Justice Johnston, during his second term of office as attorney general, in the fourth biennial report of that office, (page 88,) used the following language: "Fees arising from the sales of school lands must be accounted for by county treasurers and county clerks, and deducted from the quarterly installments of their salary, the same as other fees."
2. We do not think that the fees Obert collected for making and certifying abstracts of title, and in writing letters and giving information therein as to taxes, etc., should be reported or accounted for. Such...
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State ex rel. Board of County Commissioners of County of Lancaster v. Holm
...If, however, they were no part of his official duties, then the question falls within the rule announced in the case of the State v. Obert, 53 Kan. 106, 36 P. 64, where was held that a county treasurer who, for compensation, made searches and answered letters of inquiry and charged therefor......