$31,665.96 City of Greensboro Wasteful Spending on Public Notices in Carolina Peacemaker

The above pdf files were done with a public records request to the City of Greensboro and also Guilford County in regards to our local print media outlets and their use of taxpayers money for public notices in their paper.

Since the 1940's public notices in local papers consists of a variety of issues from foreclosure notice, general legal notice, notice of creditors, notice of hearing, notice of meeting, notice of sale, and request for bids.

This post consist of only the City of Greensboro and a local print media paper called Carolina Peacemaker. Since 2-18-2010 the City of Greensboro has spent $31,665.96 to advertise public notices in their weekly paper. The break down is as follows:

Part #1 = $5,872
Part #2 = $4,502.25
Part #3 = $5,952
Part #4 = $8,604.71
Part #5 = $2,141.50
Part #6 = $4,593.50
TOTAL = $31,665.96

We have been hearing a lot of talk from the North Carolina Press Association in regards to a bill that has been filed to do away with these public notices and save the taxpayers plenty of money because a few days ago TRIADWATCH posted about how it cost the taxpayers of Guilford County over $86,000 to publish the tax delinquency of Guilford County in their paper here is a link to that post CLICKHERE .

Here is what the NC Press Association is saying about keeping their taxpayer money pit flowing:

"As with any of these bills that take public notices out of newspapers, where people will actually notice them, NCPA strongly opposes this bill. The concept of "public notices" has always been to make sure as many people as possible in a community are aware of actions being considered or taken by their governing bodies. Few people visit their town or county website on anything approaching a regular basis. Newspapers, on the other hand, through their printed products and digital products, are accessed by large numbers on a daily basis. Publishing public notices through the newspaper ensures they will be in a place that citizens go to for information already. Newspapers also provide an independent verification of publication that meets the requirements of the law"

In regards to this post and this paper Carolina Peacemaker if only the African American Community gets the public notice does that mean that the whole city was able to see the public notice .  As stated above by the NC Press, newspapers are assessed in large numbers on a daily basis. Do many people read the Carolina Peacemaker in large numbers?   Check out page #40 in the Part #1 PDF where Mary Lou Anderson writes that they did use the Greensboro News and Record for their public notice but wanted to go with the Carolina Peacemaker because they were cheaper. Thanks Mary Lou Anderson for looking out for the taxpayer to go cheaper but in reality it is not needed to begin with because each municipality and city can house this information on their web site saving thousands of taxpayers dollars.

In a future post this week we will show the invoices of the Greensboro News and Record in regards to taxpayers money wasted on a grander scale than the Carolina Peacemaker in regards to public notices in our local paid newspapers.

If you would like to make a difference in regards to this issue and save the Guilford County taxpayers plenty of money on a yearly basis it is time to let your state representatives know how you feel and say to them pass  House BIll #473 and the Senate Bill #773 here is a link to the North Carolina General Assembly and a section called find your representative CLICKHERE