Triadwatch did a public records request from our local municipalities in regards to public notices in our paid print media outlets. This consisted of asking Greensboro, High Point and Guilford County governments just how much taxpayer funded money actually on a yearly basis went to public notices in the papers.
The City of Greensboro provided pdf files that showed the actual invoices of what has happened in the past year and a half. Above you will see the 4 files on the invoices to the City of Greensboro from the Greensboro News and Record.
Last week we provided the total amount given to the other paid local paper in Greensboro called Carolina Peacemaker which totaled $31,665.96 here is a link to that story CLICKHERE
We also had a post on triadwatch which talked about on the Guilford County side of government where we had the tax delinquency bill for one ad in the Greensboro News and Record cost $86,740.29
CLICKHERE for that post.
We are still in the process of getting more information from the Guilford County attorney's office in regards to the public notices and the invoices . We also have some numbers from the City of High Point that will be shared tomorrow.
Now let's tale a closer look at the Greensboro News and Record and the invoices provided from the Public Affairs office of the City of Greensboro.
Part #1 Greensboro News and Record Invoices $39,935.29
Part #2 Greensboro News and Record Invoices $24,701.37
Part #3 Greensboro News and Record Invoices $20.192.67
Part #4 Greensboro News and Record Invoices $11,459.14
TOTAL= $96,288.47
When you add up the bills from the Carolina Peacemaker and the Greensboro News and Record since January of 2010 the City of Greensboro has paid out over $127,954.43 in public notices. One thing to note from the invoices that is very interesting is that the Carolina Peacemaker has it's own notary on hand at no charge to the City of Greensboro but when you look at the Greensboro News and Record invoices it has a $15.00 notary charge for every invoice sent to the City of Greensboro .It would be great to get the explanation on how one doesn't charge for a notary but the other does. Plenty of money could be saved if they didn't have to charge the $15.00 or it could be that someone at Carolina Peacemaker see this post and starts charging the city for the public notices.
Why does this matter because we have a full throttle assault from the print media in trying to block a bill from happening in the North Carolina Legislature to let local and county governments post public notices on their own web sites and save taxpayers money all over this state. Locally we have seen the Greensboro News and Record post an editorial on this subject and also have a full page ad in paper in regards to this issue they got the ads from the NC Press Association and here is a link to the site with all the ads they wanted to put in papers all over this state CLICKHERE . We can also see that the High Point Enterprise has gotten into the game as well in putting a web ad in regards to the opposition of this bill compliments of the NC Press Association CLICKHERE and look in the bottom left hand corner of their main web page where a man has his huge mouth open saying TRUST US!
With all the talk about what we see on the local level in regards to public notices it was interesting to do a little research and see that the Charlotte Observer probably makes quite a bit of money from the taxpayers of Mecklenberg County but it also provides a place online from their main web page titled Legal Notices CLICKHERE which is a part of legalnotice.org . This is what is needed from our local governments have a place where everyone can get online and save plenty of taxpayers money all over this state. Some will argue that not everyone has a computer . That statement is correct and we can also say that some people do not have money as well and the public notices are only offered in paid print media , no weekly free papers are allowed to post public notices in their papers.
The time is now for this bill to pass on a state level but if not then we might just see a local bill to save the taxpayers of Guilford County over $100,000 in regards to the tax delinquency notice in the local papers. We will see what happens but if you would like to save yourself some tax money this is a no brainer and it is time to talk to your state representative and if you need to know who they are CLICKHERE
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