The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-15
GREENE DENIES THE RIGHT OF BOARD OF REVENUE ID PAY BOND COMMISSION
Court Holds Payment of Commission Would Be a DiminutiOn of the Sale
 Price and Illegal-Go
 to Supreme Court


 proceedings brought by the Jefferson county board of revenue, the right to force M. V. Henry, county treasurer, to issue warrants for brol. l.srage commission for the sale of $500,000 worth of the recent $5,000,000 road bond issue, was denied by Judge Dan A. Greene in the circuit CO.,. yes terday.
 He held that the board of revenue had no right to pay a commission to brokers -~ --.e sale of county bonds. In his opinion such a commi----on would be a dimi.. .ution of te..e sale price; in fact, it was equivalent to sale at le--- .----'. par and was illegal.
 The case will be appealed to the Ala bama supreme court, notice to this eff feet being given. Attorneys are working on the brief and it Is expected that the case will be taken up tomor- row by the supreme court for final ad- judication.
 At the present time. according to members of the board of revenue 1t is case of selling the county's bands on the basis of the payment of a commits sion for handling or below par. or it is possible that all road work will be closed down. It was pointed out by Jerry Gwin. president of the board, that contracts for s1,200,000 worth of work has been signed or was now un- der construction, and the county has approximately $200000 in funds to meet the situation, if they are unable to dispose of portion of the recently voted bond issue.
 NOT THE PROPER WAY
 Petitions for a mandamus and for a summary judgment against M. V. Henry, county treasurer, seeking t. force him to pay a warrant of s50,- 900 to John B. Weakley and Eugene Fies for the sale of s50000 worth of county road bonds was presented tc Judge Dan A. Greene. A petition for mandamus proceedings was not the proper way to secure relief Judge Greene held, but on petition for sum- mary Judgment he issued a ruling, holding that the commission could not be paid and that under the Alabama state law bonds cannot be sold below par.
 Two million dollars worth of the hon de off f1, sale several weeks ago and bids were received After a conference between the board of revenue and the advisory committee of business men, appointed to act with the board in the expendi- ture of the bond money, the Alabama Bond Company was awarded the con tract for the sale of the bonds for pal and accrued interest
 Contracts for approximately $1.500.- 900 worth of permanently paved roads were then let by the board of revenue, together with contracts for large amount of grading work on a number of important trunk line highways in the county.
 A question arose as to who should slgn the bonds to properly bind the county, when the bond attorneys passed on the validity of the bonds, As a result litigation was begun to determine whether Judge J. P. Stiles, judge of probate, or Jerry W. Gwin, president of the board of revenue, should sign them. This was a test case and was carried to the supreme court of Alabama. While the matter was before the supreme court the bottom dropped out of the bond market, and the purchasers of the bonds maintained that the county had not fully carried out its part of the contract and the bonds could not be handled at par with interest. However, it was held that the county could sell the bonds at figure below par or to pay a commits sion for the handling of the bonds. or that the county pay rate of interest higher than that fixed by the law of per cent, which the bonds pay.
 COUNTS NEEDS
 The board of revenue. the nd-
 visory committee. bond buyers and
 bankers held several conferences
 md efforts were made to make nr-
 engagements whereby the bonds
 could be financed. As a result of
 the immediate needs of the county
 to meet estimates on work now in
 progress the board of revenue as n
 final solution authorized John B.
 Weakley and Eugene Fies to sell
 $5OO.0OO worth of the bonds. md
 agreed to pay n commission of 10
 per cent, or 5O.OOO, if permitted by
 the courts. to secure the money to
 tide the county over the acute
 financial difficulty.
 When the warrant was presented to Mr. Henry. county treasurer, he de- c.ined to pay 1t, holding that the war rant was illegal, null and void. Pro- ceedings to test the validity of thu propsition in the courts were prepared and the matter was submitted to Judge Greene, who rendered his ruling yes terday, that the county cannot pay commission on the sale of it's bonds and that the warrant should not be paid.
 According to the petition. the board of revenue on December 29. 1919. or