The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1861-11-28
ATTORNEY osSERAL NuRnAv's OPINION.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE,
Cor -, ,t.e n Noy lu4h 1Sgl


payment of taxes, to dispose of it at public
letting, to the lowest responsible bidder"
&C., and that your opinion being asked, you
desire las by law you are authorized to do,)
my advice thereon. | answer, that in my
opinion it is not the duty of the Auditor to
let out tho publishing of the tax list to the
lowestresponsibe bidder; nor is he required
to receive bids therefor tall. Sec. AZ of "an
act prescribing the duties of County AUDI
tors passed April a, 1859 9provides that the
Auditors of the several counties in this
State" &C., "shall cause the list of delinquent
lands" &C., to be published &c., in
some newspaper printed in their
respective counties, and ii none be
printed therein, then in some paper hdoing
general circulation therein" Sec. l0l, of
the "act in relation to the assessment, &c,
of taxes" passed April 5, 1889, makes SINH
lar provision in regard to the publication oi
u list of lands forfeited to the State for the
nou-paymcut of taxes. Sec 53, of the first
above cited act provides that there Shall
not be paid for advertising such list, II
greater sum than is therein prescribed. 1t
IS claimed however, that these provisions
OF the statute are controlled by Secuon of
IAN act further to prescribe the duties OF
| County Commissioners, passed April Sth,
1886, which provides that the County Cou.-
mssioners OF any county III this State, shall
not make, suffer, or cause to be made, any
contract or purchase, for any outlay oi mon
! ey for or on behalf of their county, the cs-
| timated value OF expense of which shall eX-
c1Cd 500, without irst advert SIM; and re-
celving proposals, &c. therefor. such pur-
chase or contract to bc made with the low
est responsible bidder, &c, Prov ded, tnat
SAID section shall not be cons rued 10 extend
to the purchase OF any artc,cs ueccssa y
/ to any of the county officers III dischara e
OF the duties OF their Office, except sta
! tlonery and printing am clearly
| OF the opinion that this last act has
no applicability to the subject matter uAdor
! cons deration. The object and design ot
! tina, get. was to guard against certain alleged
| frauds. III purchases ana contracts maue by
the County Comm ss'oners OF Hamlton coull-
! ty; ana the bin was nlt.Cdueed INTO the Sen
ate by the Hon. Stanley Mathews, at t. o
request OF prominent ciuzens OF tn;cnnati,
! Tor the purpose OF accomplishing thai enh,
! WIDE journal uI Uhio Senate y. d. 1906 J
Gne act OF April Stn, 1896, WAS not desigIl-
| cd to confer upon the Commissioners OF
counties. amy powers ddttihOR0l to those
winch they ut Wut time poSsesscd on the
contrary, 1t is, IN express terms, limited to
| purchases aud contracts Wnlch they then
mad power to make, and which were then
within their coutroi. Tie County Comm. $
s.oners at the time OF the passage o. this act
had no power to regulate, or III 0Ry m9tt,tHey,
! interfere with Lnc puuL eaton Oi the ueiuI-
| quent or tui te.ted tax Lst-th.S act gave
| them no add tlonal power. consequently they
| have none now. Ia TACT, the Whole mastci
OI the publication "a TINS tax Last, tilen Was
and st,ll S, erciHSiCeLy W.tAn the control OF
tne County Auditor, aui w.th that contfo..
40 other nLu or body OF men have. by Jaw,
! any riSht whatever 10 interfere. the stat
! ute nowhere requires the Auditor torcCeN {
| bids tOr, "r let tno printing, Ut, TINS tax iist
to the lowest rcSpOusIbIc bidder ; to hold
| therefore that he IS controlled III this respect
10y the act ot April s, 1856, is to substitute
i'll that act without any warrant Of law
therefor the word " Auditor for Commits
s.oners OF the county and to hold thai
uuucr this act the COMMISSIONERS are requir
ed to regulate tnat with Which the law no
where else gives them any rlght to Interfere
II tne County Auditor is required torCceivC
proposals for and let this printing, he could
. only do so III strict accordance with the
letter of the law, and that is, to let il
to the lowest responsible bidder and
yet he is required to publish the lisl
in some paper having general ctTculttt0d
| in the county. SuppoSmg the lowest re-
sponsible bId to be made 10y the publisher
of paper having no circulation in the
county, how can he award the printing tC
such bidder, and at the same time comply
with the law? Again, the law provides that
no more than stated sum shall be paid fol
this printing; supposing the lowest respon
| sihle bid to be at greater rates than is allow
ed by the statute to be paid, could he award
the printing to such bidder, at rates III direct
| violation OF law Certainly not ; and yet
if he were required TO receive proposals
and let to the lowest responsible bidder
difficulties such as these would meet hun al
every step. The law does not require it; il
has given to the Auditor the right to adver
tisc the list of lands, delinquent or forieItca
to the State for non-payment OF taxes, in
such paper OF the county, If one printed
therein, or if none, then of an ad olning
county having general circulation therein,a
he may choose. HIS right to select the pa
per in which he will advertise, and the
price which he will pay therefor, is untimit
ed, except in this, that ne eau pay no greater
rates than is provided Ivy law. Those rates
were deemed by the Legislature to be reason
able prices for the work to be done; they have
authorized the Auditor to pay at those
rates or below them, but not beyond ; and
the very fact that the Legislature has fixed
the maximum rate to be paid for this work
taken in connection with the other piovlS
ions of law .is conclusive evidence OF their IN
tention to invest the Auditor with fun dis
cretion as to the selection OF the paper t.
do the work. Ii matters Of this kind much
must of necessity, be left 10 tue discretion
of the otlicer--itis is the design Of the law, Il
bring advertisements OF the Kind under con
sideraCon. te the uoLlce of all intercsteI i
and IA paper which would do the job iol
the lowest sum might have no such cTcuIa
ton as would justify the Auditor in giving
it the work to do: the Auditor is clecte,
by the peoples responsible to them, all.
is presumed to act for their best interests
The act of April 8, 1856, was undoubtedly
intended only to apply to that class OF con
tracts and purchases which 1T is the duty o
the County Comm IS .oners to make, and no
to any of those contracts or purchases, =
printing or otherw se,--which by law, de
volYe upon other officers OF the county; AM
certainly includes nothing which any otbe
officer, by name, is, by the law, required t
do or to have done. In the conclusion t,
which have arrived in this matter All
) sustained by the opinion of my prelecesso
t in Office, as we'll as by the uniform construC
ton given by the Auditors of State, as we
before as since tho passage Of the act o
= April 8, 1856. JAMES MURRAY,
Attorney General of Ohio.
Capt. SpaaOrd's Company.