Blair County may change legal ads
By Kay Stephens
Altoona Mirror
HOLLIDAYSBURG - Blair County commissioners are showing interest in proposed legislation allowing the posting of legal advertisements on agency Web sites instead of in newspapers.
Commissioner Diane Meling, after seeing a notice about the proposed legislation in the County Commissioners Association newsletter, said Blair County could save about $300,000 annually. That is the amount the county spends to publish property sales, meeting notices, budget adoption plans, election information and other pending actions.
Instead of putting such notices in the Mirror, the proposed legislation would allow the county to post notices on a Web site.
The risk in allowing local governments to do that is not just lost newspaper revenue but also the loss of access to public information, according to the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
"If you can't find the information, it might as well be hidden from you," said Deborah Musselman, the the association's director of governmental affairs.
Counties and other local governments are required by state law to publish a variety of public notices in newspaper classified advertising sections. The notices include proposed ordinances, zoning changes, tax levies and bid advertisements.
Sen. Robert Robbins, R-Mercer, through Senate Bill 419, suggests local governments put those notices on Web sites after publishing four notices in newspapers indicating where free public Internet access is available and where copies of their notices may be picked up.
"This disenfranchises the poor, the elderly ... the people who don't have computer access, who are not savvy about getting this kind of information," Musselman said.
Commissioner Terry Tomassetti also showed interest in the legislation Meling mentioned.
"The Web site is the wave of the future," Tomassetti said.
Nearly 100 daily and weekly newspapers, including the Mirror, subscribe to www.MyPublicNotices.com, an Internet program that offers a searchable database of newspaper legal advertisements.
Newspapers uploaded their advertisements every day to that site, at no additional cost, Musselman said.
Beyond the loss of access to public information, the newspaper association likens Robbins' proposed legislation to telling the fox to build and watch the henhouse.
A newspaper's basic format - dated editions, printed on paper and sold by the thousands - provides a quick and accurate answer on whether the public had notice of pending action, the association concluded.
As for saving money, the association's research found public notice advertising accounts for less than 1 percent of local government expenses. In Blair County's case, with a $66.7 million budget, the $300,000 spent on advertising public notices amounts to less than half of 1 percent annually.
Altoona Mirror
HOLLIDAYSBURG - Blair County commissioners are showing interest in proposed legislation allowing the posting of legal advertisements on agency Web sites instead of in newspapers.
Commissioner Diane Meling, after seeing a notice about the proposed legislation in the County Commissioners Association newsletter, said Blair County could save about $300,000 annually. That is the amount the county spends to publish property sales, meeting notices, budget adoption plans, election information and other pending actions.
Instead of putting such notices in the Mirror, the proposed legislation would allow the county to post notices on a Web site.
The risk in allowing local governments to do that is not just lost newspaper revenue but also the loss of access to public information, according to the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
"If you can't find the information, it might as well be hidden from you," said Deborah Musselman, the the association's director of governmental affairs.
Counties and other local governments are required by state law to publish a variety of public notices in newspaper classified advertising sections. The notices include proposed ordinances, zoning changes, tax levies and bid advertisements.
Sen. Robert Robbins, R-Mercer, through Senate Bill 419, suggests local governments put those notices on Web sites after publishing four notices in newspapers indicating where free public Internet access is available and where copies of their notices may be picked up.
"This disenfranchises the poor, the elderly ... the people who don't have computer access, who are not savvy about getting this kind of information," Musselman said.
Commissioner Terry Tomassetti also showed interest in the legislation Meling mentioned.
"The Web site is the wave of the future," Tomassetti said.
Nearly 100 daily and weekly newspapers, including the Mirror, subscribe to www.MyPublicNotices.com, an Internet program that offers a searchable database of newspaper legal advertisements.
Newspapers uploaded their advertisements every day to that site, at no additional cost, Musselman said.
Beyond the loss of access to public information, the newspaper association likens Robbins' proposed legislation to telling the fox to build and watch the henhouse.
A newspaper's basic format - dated editions, printed on paper and sold by the thousands - provides a quick and accurate answer on whether the public had notice of pending action, the association concluded.
As for saving money, the association's research found public notice advertising accounts for less than 1 percent of local government expenses. In Blair County's case, with a $66.7 million budget, the $300,000 spent on advertising public notices amounts to less than half of 1 percent annually.
