The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-21
COUNTYLEGAL
PRINTING BILL
UNDERATTACK
$6728 Paid for Advertising
Published Only Twice,
Is Claim.
BY DICK MILLER
Times staff Writer

a. for publication of delin-
uuent tax notices, 80 cents for each
description to each newspaper for
all insertions required ."-Indi-
ana Statutes. 1884, Chapter 6, Ar
ticle l.
For the last three years, the sale
of property for collection of delin-
ouent taxes has been illegal, and
not one piece of property has been
so sold.
However, Marion County, in 1888,
paid the indianapolis Commercial
Publishing Co., which publishes the
Indianapolis Commercial, journal
of legal news, $2827.7O for such ad-
vertising. That year none of the no.
tees, or items, ever was actually
published.
The law requires that those ad-
vertisements must appear three
times at specified intervals before
the date of sale. In 1888, the Com
mercial had set the notices into
type, but the Legislature enacted a
law declaring a moratorium on sales
for delinquent taxes and, so, publ
cation of the advertisements was
unnecessary.
The 1888 law also provided that
owners of property could pay all de-
linquent taxes in 20 installments
the first to be paid in May, 1884. In
asmuch as the law also provides
that sales of property for taxes must
be on the second Monday Of Febru-
airy, sales for 1884 were auto
matically outlawed.
Published Only Twice
In 1884, nevertheless, the Com
mercial was paid $370090 by the
county for publishing two insertions
of the required three of notices OF
sales of property for 1882 tax delin-
quencies.
Before the third insertion, Su-
perior Judge William Pickens de-
clared the sale illegal and publica-
ton was dropped. The Commercial
did not charge for the third inser-
ton.
In those two years, then, the
Commercial has been paid $6720.6O
for legal ads that were run but
twice instead of the six times the
law calls for, and we're run those
two times with no actual service to
the county.
This year The Commercial paid
$4261 80 for 14172 items on The day
after the Legislature again made
sales illegal and on the day before
Gov. Paul v. McNutt signed the law
and made it effective.
Offers to Return $1,000.
Twenty-three days later, Feb. Z
Mark Gray, Commercial editor, at
tached to the statement to the
county, already paid, proof sheets
of the type set up. County commits
sioners counted the items and found
only 1O,67O. Yesterday Mr.. Gray Of
fered to return the county $1O6O.0O
the difference, at 80 cents an item
between his statement and the COM
missioner'S count.
The commission said today they
would not accept that in settlement
None of the items ever was pub
lished because the sales were rem
dered illegal by the Legislature. The
indianapolis Commercial Printing
Co.. which does printer and press
work for Mr.. Gray on contract
charged Mr.. Gray less than $420 for
the work of setting the type, for
which the county paid Mr.. Gray
$3210.
Although he was asked eight days
ago by the commissioners to see
how the county could legally pro-
coed to recover some of the money
spent in the last three years for
such publishing, County Attorney
John Linder had not today given
| them an opinion.