Town Again Seeks State Approval on Notices

The Town of Clayton will again ask the NC General Assembly for permission to officially use its web site and new Facebook page to notify residents of upcoming public hearings and other important public business, rather than having to buy advertising space in local newspapers.

The Town Council believes the savings associated with going to electronic media can work for the Town, while still assuring that the public is well informed and involved.

Town officials intend to link their request with similar requests from several other area municipilities and Wake County to increase the liklihood of approval.

Solely electronic advertising would only be used when other means of communicating scheduled hearings is also provided. Those additional means include direct mail, posting of property and, potentially, inclusion on Public Access Television.

Savings could range from $4,000 to $10,000 per year. The choice has already been extended to other municipalities.

Town officials also intend to seek authority to levy an "Occupancy Tax" of two percent on local motel bills, with the funds going to promote area travel and tourism. Other towns in Johnston County have been levying a similar tax for years. Town Manager Steve Biggs said the figure "is on the lower end" of what municipalities usually charge.

Using modern technologies like Facebook and the town's web site for public notices rather than local newspapers would save funds that could go to other needs. The move is also "a reflection of changing times," Biggs said, where newspaper readership is going down and use of the internet is going up.

Printing public notices in local newspapers has served fairly well over the years, though the sometimes cumbersome process of getting time-sensitive legal notices into print has delayed town business from time to time. Officials say using the town's web site, which is updated daily, and the town's new Facebook page to post notices would be easier, quicker and require no advertisement costs. The Town has also suggested that local print media should consider providing this service to its readers without cost to the Town, but so far they have not been receptive to that approach.

The General Assembly balked at approving the change last year, when the measure came under fire from the newspaper industry, which stands to lose advertising revenue at a time when their business is already being adversely impacted by the sputtering national economy.