The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-29
OBJECTIONABLE USE

The committee in it's report states thd' the board of revenue was using money | derived from the sale of the bonds au- thorized by the special election held in | February to finish road work already unde, construction The advisory com | u,ttee was nct in favor of any of the | funds derived from the sale of the bonus | being used to repair the present chet. roads nor to maintain county conVlc. | camps the report stated. The board or revenue planned without the knowledge | of the advisory committee members It ID stated to spend several hundred thou- | sand dollars of the first issue of s2,Wo,No on tl, completion of old contracts let last sumnNr to be constructed with fede,ai | aid money. This. it is pointed out Tn lac report is d viola toin of the pre-eleHio'i 1 promises made during the campaign pre- ceding the special election that funds de- rived from the sale of the bonds wouiu be devoted exclusively to the construi- tion of new projects.
 , A large portion of the $5Oo,No worth CT road bonds which were recently sold mas been used to complete old contracts, ac- cording to the report. These bonds, ae- cording to members of the advisory committee were sold at 90. The con tractors to whom contracts for construc- ton work on approximately $42loW worm of new grading let after the voting or the s, 900 bond election were forced to raise 10 per cent of this amount, or so',- 000, in order to save the money and thor contracts The supreme court of Alabaral ruled that in case brought by the board that bonds could not be sold below par, and the county could not pay commis- sion of 10 per cent to the Alabama Boui Company for the sale of them which, in effect, was a sale below par, which is prohibited by the statute of Alabama.
 It is contended by the committeeman that the continuance of the present tac- tics of the county in regard to road mat ters will absolutely bankrupt the county in short while. The only way in which Jefferson county may be pulled out of the financial hole is to abandon all fur ther road construction work. according to the committee, even though this course means the loss of s3S5.0Oo federal aid money due the county upon the com pletion of the fedreal aid contracts under taken by the county more than year ago. It is pointed out that if the county had used the $60o, ,O0J obtained from local banks for the purpose of completing the federal aid work, instead of divertina' Vt to dirt roads, this amount of mo, Iy could have beer saved.
 At the present time the countys I'd d obligations are approximately s90.00o. C. cording to President Gw.n,
 BANKERS CALLED
 When several bankerA were called Into consultation with the a visory commit tee and the board of rev 1ue. at the re- quest of the bankers. ce tified account ant was employed to prepa.e and submit to the banks financial statement of the county. Sufficient time was not available for the accountant to prepare more than an approximate statement. The nature of this statement. however. was not such that the banks felt they were justified in making the cosnty a temporary loan. it is said.
 According to the members of the com
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