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Finance committee flags sharp rise in legal notice and advertising costs
Summary
Committee members said legal/advertising fees have climbed sharply; staff reported options to move legal notices to a less-expensive newspaper and will analyze causes of large increases, including a transcript reference to $205,100 for the year.
During the finance committee meeting, Speaker 1 and Speaker 2 highlighted that legal notice and advertising costs have increased substantially. Speaker 2 said the county is reviewing the spike and exploring whether switching to a lower-cost newspaper for legal notices could reduce expenses.
In one exchange Speaker 2 summarized year-to-year contrasts: "when I first started doing that ad it was like $8," and later said "this year it was $205,100" (verbatim from transcript). The committee also noted that tax-ad costs had been roughly $8,000 in a previous year and had increased since then; staff said part of the change may be tied to more properties being involved and additional fees being assessed.
Speaker 2 said this cost increase would be reported to the county commission and that the finance committee may need to meet more often to determine capital priorities and next steps. Staff advised that the county can move legal notices toward a less expensive general-circulation paper but that such changes are not mandatory and would be implemented consistent with legal requirements for notices.
Next steps: finance staff will continue investigating the causes of the increase, model potential savings by moving notices to a different publication, and bring findings back to the committee and commission.
