City of McAllen wants to pull legal notices from local newspapers

[douglas9]

McALLEN, Dec. 3 - The City of McAllen’s legislative agenda will include support for legislation that would allow municipalities to place their legal notices on their own Web sites rather than in local newspapers.

The McAllen City Commission finalizes its wish list for the 82nd Legislature at a workshop at City Hall on Monday and Mayor Richard Cortez confirmed that a proposal by the Texas Municipal League on shifting the placement of legal notices will be included.

“We are doing this for economic reasons,” Cortez told the Guardian. “Our budget for legal notices is anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000 a year and we are forced to spend that with the local newspapers. We would like to place those legal notices on our City Web site instead.”

Cortez said the Texas Municipal League is taking the lead on the issue for hundreds of cities across the state. He said legislation would be required before municipalities could shift their legal notices from newspapers to their official Web sites.

With a high percentage of low-income families, the Rio Grande Valley is not usually thought of as being hotbed for broadband connections. Many residents cannot afford a computer or the monthly fees required to stay connected to the Internet. While acknowledging that the Valley is not the most “wired” region of the country, Cortez still feels shifting legal notices to the World Wide Web is the way to go.

http://www.riograndeguardian.com/RGGnews_story.asp?story_no=21

[WolverineDG]

1. newspapers really rake you over the coals for those notices

and they don't accept pauper's affidavits from legal aid clients :grr:

dg