It’s time to modernize public notice rates in Mississippi
The history of public notices began long before newspapers were in print in the United States — the first public notice was in the first English-language newspaper in 1665, called “The Oxford Gazette,” the official newspaper that carried notices from the King’s Court and public notices from London officials. In 1789, the Acts of the First Session of U.S. Congress required all bills, orders, resolutions, and congressional votes to be published in newspapers. Newspaper media nationwide have been trusted to publish public notices for centuries, first in print and now digital. Publishing public notices in a newspaper is the most effective way to inform the public so they can make well-informed decisions about what is going on in their government.
Public notices or ‘legals’ are published in The South Reporter on specific pages. They may be bid notices, zoning ordinances, and run-ofthe- mill government expenses. But they also deal with very delicate matters like foreclosures and delinquent taxes. Since I’ve been managing editor I have had many people come into the office because of a notice of Delinquent Tax or a Foreclosure Notice was published in the newspaper. Those same people would have not known if it had not been published. Some said their neighbor or family member saw the public notice. Publishing public notices in newspapers is the best way to notify and keep the public informed.
Publishing public notices comes with responsibilities. The notices are critical to due process and must be handled carefully. From receiving the notice to creating proper affidavits, as evidence of publication to ensure any legal proceedings resulting from the notices in the courts.
Newspapers provide this vital service, and it is the best way, from coast to coast since our nation’s founding, to notify the public. But with inflation it can be costly. In Mississippi, public notice rates are set by government statute, and the rates have not changed since 1998. Other states allow newspaper media to set their own for publishing notices. Currently, in Mississippi, the rate to publish a notice is 12 cents per word for a notice’s first insertion and 10 cents per word for each additional insertion. The average inflation rate has skyrocketed to 81 percent since 1998, and the cost of publishing the required notices has not changed in over 25 years.
It’s a fact Mississippians still want their local newspapers to be trusted with public notices. A 2023 survey by Coda Ventures of Nashville found that 70 percent believe newspapers should continue to publish public notices.
Meanwhile, Mississippi newspaper media has been modernizing public notice, first publishing them on a statewide database, mspublicnotices.org, way back in 1999. This is a convenient, one-stop repository for notices appearing in newspapers statewide. It gives both private citizens and public officials a central location to follow vital government information in their communities. This
website is free and publicly accessible to anyone with an internet connection, greatly expanding beyond traditional print newspapers the reach of notices from Corinth to Biloxi. This added service doesn’t cost government a dime. And it eliminates any need for government bodies to publish notices on hundreds of disparate websites. The government should not be its own watchdog of this information. Newspapers provide the publishing of public notices as a neutral third-party source of information.
The Mississippi Press Association, the trade group representing state newspapers, is investing in upgrades to the online platform to make public notices more efficient for advertisers and convenient for citizens. All of this has come at no expense to either government or taxpayers. The cost has been entirely underwritten for a quarter of a century by Mississippi’s newspaper media.
Therefore, we argue it’s time to acknowledge that investment – and the continued pressures of inflation – and increase the public notice rates set by law. Similar bills have passed in Georgia in 2023 and Nebraska in 2022 with strong support from legislators on both sides of the political aisle. They understand the vital role of local newspaper media.
The Mississippi Press Association urges local legislators to back bills filed in both the House and Senate to modernize rates and help us invest in the future of public notice.