The editorial from the Lapeer County Press you posted is quite passionate and I am sure it resonates well with you and all other news publication throughout the State but it is missing the real reason why your readers should be concerned about this bill that will eliminate official public notices from local governments to be posted in newspapers.
The real reason it concerns you is it will remove a significant revenue source from you and will make it difficult to continue to publish your newspaper without raising the cost of what you charge for it. That in turn will cause you to lose customers and eventually will put many of you out of business.
Let’s face it publishing public notices is just not that important to your readers. If it was they would be on the front page and not buried in the back of the paper just behind the want ads. Even if it was nothing would stop you from getting public notices off the internet and reposting them in the paper. I hardly think newspaper publishers take the time to research the public notices as the editorial suggests, making sure they are on the up and up. I could be wrong but if I am there is still ample opportunity for you to review notices posted on the internet.
The real reason your readers should be concerned is it will eventually remove a significant resource for us to get local and accurate information if your newspaper has to go out of business. It will make it difficult for an individual to express his/her opinions for others to read. It will cause a loss of jobs from the small businesses throughout the State that publish local newspapers. Finally, it will allow politicians and bureaucrats to go about their dirty work without some way of letting us know what they are doing.
The problem is that as we continue to chip away at local government revenues we also have to give some relief to those local governments and this will relieve some of the cost. In addition to the large business tax breaks given back in 2010 and the business property tax cut given just last year, now the State House wants to further divert local and school district revenue to fix our roads. It seems to me that trading our police and fire protection and children’s education for our roads isn’t something we ought to do.
Contacting Senator James Marleau, as the editorial suggests, would be futile. The only time we hear from him is when he wants your vote. Representative Brad Jacobsen has already turned his back on you with his yes vote on the bill. Hope you remember that when it is time to support these candidates again.
Gerald Podzikowski, Oxford
Publisher’s Note: The real reason we believe public notices should remain printed in newspapers is we don’t trust government ? not all governments, but many of them ? to police itself when it comes to informing the public and operating in an above-board manner.
Printing notices in newspapers creates an official, permanent record unlike posting them on the internet where things can be easily altered with the click of a mouse.
Public notices help keep citizens aware of upcoming elections, tax deadlines, if the neighborhood store is applying for a liquor license or if someone wants to open a marijuana shop in town.
These things are important for the public to know and government websites are simply not as well read as newspapers. And not all governments have websites.
When is the last time you visited one?
In reality, the cost of publishing public notices in newspapers is typically less than 1 percent of a government’s budget.
Yes, newspapers charge for publishing notices, but that’s because everything in this world has costs associated with it, whether it’s government posting something on-line or us printing it on paper.
And by the way, in addition to printing them, we post the notices on our website for no additional fee. ? Jim Sherman, Jr.