The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-09-21
COUNTY BOND ISSUE
in SETTLEMENT

Monroe County IS among
those counties which will be
benefited by Judge Aker-
mans temporary injunction.
inasmuch as Five Thousand
Dollars tss.0oo.o0) of Monroe
County bonds are involved in
this suit. II is expected that
the. injunction will relieve
Monroe County from further
burdensome litigation with
regard to unrefunded bonds
until such time as the amend
ment 10 the Municipal Bank
ruptcY Act shall become a
law.
This litigation is part of a
broad scale operation which has
been in process for several
months in which the approx
mately twenty-five counties af-
fected by the Board of Admins
tration rulings have been seeking
to obtain protection from the adj
verse effects thereof. A meeting
of more than sixty county Off
Gals was held in Orlando in
June to discuss these problems,
which involved:
l. The decision of the SUI
preme Court in the case of Cone,
ct al, VS.. State, ev rel, Richard
w. Massey.
2. The passage of the so-called
Crary Bill by the Legislature and
the subsequent veto thereof by
Governor Cone.
3. The announced intention
of the Board of Administration
to insist upon the payment of
defaulted original securities out
of refunding appropriations be-
fore further payments would be
made for refunding bonds which
had been issued under compro-
mise refunding programs.
At the meeting in Orlando, a
County Steering Committee was
formed, which conferred with
the Board of Administration but
was unable to obtain assurance of
that practical cooperation which
the counties had requested in an
effort to minimize the serious
financial losses as result of the
rulings of the Board of Admin
istration, which were made upon
advice of Attorney General
George Copper Gibbs. The group
meeting at Orlando also result
ed in the signing of a petition to
the Florida Congressional dele
CATION requesting amendments
to the, Municipal Bankruptcy
Act which would give the effect
ed counties. relief, from the CON
dition that had developed.
Senators Charles o. Andrews
and Claude Pepper, in response
to the petition, Immediately in
troduced amendments to the Mu-
nicipal Bankruptcy Act, which, if
they became law, would:
1. Permit counties to avail
themselves of the Act;
2. Permit bonds, which had
been exchanged under refunding
programs, to be considered as
consenting creditors in bank
ruptcy proceedings, thus avoid
ing the tedious detail necessary
to obtain written consents, this
provision being based upon the
feeling that there is no higher
evidence of willingness to accept
a compromise refunding plan
than the actual acceptance of re-
funding securities offered under
the plan.
3. Extend the expiration date
of the Municipal Bankruptcy Act
from 1910 to 1912.
The Andrews-Pepper Amend
ments to the Bankruptcy Act
were passed by the Senate two
days before the adjournment of
Congress in August, too late for
action by the House of Repre-
sentatives. 1t is expected that,
with Congress re-convening this
month AN effort will be made to
speed the enactment of this leg
islation in order that the refund
ing plans, which have proceeded
on voluntary exchange basis to
the extent of an average partici-
patton of 95as may not be jeop-
ardized by loss of revenues by
legal attack on behalf of the
holders of the original high in
terest rate bonds.