People ex rel. Johnston v. Board of Supervisors — 6 N.Y. St. Rep. 326

Majority

p. 326

People ex rel. Charles R. Johnston, App’lts, v. Board of Supervisors of Ulster County, Resp’ts.

(Supreme Court, General Term, Third Department,

Filed January 22, 1887.)

Headnote

County charge—Discount allowed on unpaid county bills not a charge AGAINST THE COUNTY.

Where a county fails to provide for the payment of its indebtedness when due and the creditor has his bill against the county discounted he cannot collect the discount he allowed, from the county. It is not a county charge.

Appeal from an order of the special term denying a motion for a writ of mandamus to issue against the defendants requiring them them to pay relator the amount of certain discounts allowed by him.

Charles A. Fowler, for app’lts; A. D. Lent, for resp’ts.

The relator was entitled to the payment monthly for his services as janitor of the armory, and his monthly wages were a county charge. Chap. 299, sec. 64, Laws of 1883.

, But provision was not made for his monthly payment, and he had the bills discounted at a bank; the aggregate amount of the discounts allowed the bank was $42.50. The relator presented a verified bill to the board of supervisors for this sum, and its allowance was refused.

. The discount allowed by the relator to the bank was not for the benefit of the county, and is not a county charge. The relator’s claim is of the nature of damages for delay in payment. No statute authorizes such a charge. If interest ought to be allowed, it would attach to the bills themselves and be the claim of the present holder. The propriety of the allowance of the present claim is doubtful; certainly the relator has no clear legal right to it. The motion for a mandamus was properly denied, and the order should be affirmed with ten dollars costs and printing disbursements.

Learned, P. J., concurs; Parker, J., not acting.