Marvin Mandel, Governor                           721

PORTED BY THREE-FIFTHS OF ALL THE MEMBERS
ELECTED TO EACH OF THE TWO HOUSES OF THE GEN-
ERAL ASSEMBLY, THE SAME SHALL TAKE EFFECT FROM
THE DATE OF ITS PASSAGE.

Approved April 22, 1970

CHAPTER 322
(House Bill 41)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 2-205
of Article 93 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1969 Supple-
ment), title "Decedents' Estates," subtitle "The Court," subhead-
ing "The Register of Wills," to increase the maximum amount of
salary which can be set by the Board of Public Works for the
registers of wills in the state, and providing for a subdivision
of this section.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 2-205 of Article 93 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1969 Supplement), title "Decedents' Estates," subtitle "The Court,"
subheading "The Register of Wills," be and it is hereby repealed and
re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

2-205.

(a)    Each Register shall be entitled to receive annually a salary
of not less than $6,000 ($12,000 in Baltimore City) and not more
than [$17,000] $20,000, to be determined in each instance by the
Board of Public Works. In determining the annual salary of each
Register, the Board of Public Works shall be guided in the exercise
of its discretion by the population of his County determined by the
last official United States Census, by the dollar volume of total fees
and taxes collected and of excess fees turned over to the State for
each of the preceding five years by the office of the Register for
which the salary is being fixed, and by other pertinent data which
have relation to the reasonableness of the salary in relation to the
work done and volume handled by the office; it being the intent of this
Section that each Register shall receive a fair and adequate compen-
sation for the effort and duties required of him by his office and the
volume and character of work done by him as Register in compari-
son to the salary fixed by the Board of Public Works for each of the
other Registers.

(b)    The salaries of the Registers shall be payable semi-monthly
from the fees and receipts of the office, after deducting the necessary
expenses of the office, including salaries of deputies and clerks, books,
stationery, office supplies and other necessary and customary expen-
ses of doing business.

(c)    If the fees and receipts of the office shall be insufficient in
any month to pay all or any part of the expenses of the office and
authorized salary of any Register, the deficiency shall be deducted by
the Register for that month, from the taxes due the State Comp-