Why take a chance?
Even novices won't skate on thin ice when good ice is available. They know better than to take a risk.
Readers think we've been upset over the Hillsboro City Commission's decision to publish official notices in the Hillsboro Free Press Extra because of our loss of revenue. Fact is, legal notices aren't exactly a high-profit item, particularly when we've always absorbed most of the cost of running them in larger type, so readers can actually read them.
What really worries us is that the commissioners and their advisers are taking a risk, one that could have dire consequences for Hillsboro taxpayers.
State law requires that official legal notices be published in newspapers with general paid circulation.
Combined, Hillsboro Free Press Extra and Hillsboro Free Press have maybe 150 paid subscribers in Hillsboro. That's not "general" circulation.
For the exact same price, Hillsboro could have 10 times that much local coverage by using the fully qualified longtime newspaper the Hillsboro Star-Journal.
A public notice published in the FP Extra could be challenged for "improper notice" by anyone who might not be happy. That could include ordinances, street closings, zoning, elections, and hundreds of others.
The city would have to defend itself for using a limited publication periodical when a fully certified newspaper is available.
Such a case would be costly, time consuming, and cause confusion and controversy.
We desperately want to avoid that. We have a public trust, too — an obligation to make sure elected officials don't do the equivalent of investing city funds in lottery tickets.
Make no mistake about it: That's exactly what your city commission has done by deciding to publish legal notices in Hillsboro Free Press Extra.
It's not too late to rescind that action and put Hillsboro's legal notices back on a firm foundation. Why take the risk?
