The Bid That Didn’t Stick: Stevens County’s $219,500 Bond Deal Goes Bust
A Chicago bond house wins the county’s funding issue, then fails to make good; Denver’s Rollins Sons steps in with a premium bid.
At last week's session of the board of county commissioners it developed that the Trowbridge-Niver Co., of Chicago, who bid in the $219,500 issue of Stevens County funding bonds, had failed and refused to make good the payment. The board awarded the issue to Rollins Sons, of Denver. The Denver men offered 4½ with a $1,406 premium.
“Trowbridge-Niver Co., of Chicago, who bid in the $219,500 issue of Stevens County funding bonds, had failed and refused to make good the payment.”
County governments still borrow to build roads, courthouses and services, and a bidder’s failure can leave taxpayers and public projects exposed. The episode reads like a small-town version of today’s municipal-finance headlines, where the fine print of who will actually honor a bid matters as much as the headline number.
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