Council Hopes Internet Advertising Bill Can Save Taxpayers' Money

A law that some say has outlived its usefulness thanks to technology costs Brick up to $50,000 per year, and the township council wants two stalled state bills that could remedy the situation to be put up for a vote.

At its March 15 meeting, the council unanimously approved a resolution supporting two pending bills in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature that would allow municipalities to advertise legal notices on their own websites rather than in print newspapers. According to Business Administrator Scott Pezarras, the township has spent $42,000 and $50,000, respectively, to comply with the law and advertise its legal notices in the Asbury Park Press the past two years.

“All of the sudden, these advertisements have become very expensive,” Pezarras said.

In the past, he explained, Brick officials saved money by advertising in the Brick Township Town News-Sampler; however that newspaper folded when its owner passed away several years ago. Under current state law, legal notices must be advertised in a newspaper that is published at least weekly and has a physical presence in town. In absence of those conditions, a paper of record that has a minimum circulation must be selected, Pezarras said.

According to the New Jersey Press Association, local governments in the state spend approximately $20 million per year on legal advertising. About 60 percent of that amount is eventually reimbursed to local governments, however, through user fees such as when an applicant before a planning board pays back a township its noticing fees.

The bill, which is still pending in both the state Senate and Assembly, does not alter existing notice content and publication time frame requirements, according to a July 2010 statement from the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. When a municipality publishes a notice on the Internet, according to the statement, the Web address must still be advertised in a print publication of record.

Pezarras said since newspapers charge by the number of words contained in legal notices, the amount the township must spend each year varies depending on a number of factors, the biggest of which is how many properties are up for annual tax lien sales.

“In a year where you have a lot of liens, it can grow exponentially because you have to advertise it four times,” said Pezarras.

Though the bills have made it out of committees in the Senate and Assembly, the leaders of both chambers have publicly stated they do not plan on posting the measure for a vote.

The bills have faced opposition primarily from the newspaper industry, which has argued elderly and poor residents without Internet access may not have the opportunity to read online notices.