Certain public notices are legally required to be published in a qualified local newspaper, reported Montezuma County attorney John Baxter last week.
The report came after Montezuma County Commissioners sought an alternative to publishing legal notices in the The Journal as a way to save money.
According to Colorado statutes, public notices, including for government expenditures, budget information, government salaries, elections, and certain property and tax information, are to be published in a legal local newspaper.
Under the statute, The Journal is the only newspaper in the county that qualifies as a legal publication, because it is an established newspaper of general circulation that comes out at least weekly. The category is often referred to as the “paper of record.”
But Baxter said some public notices the county publishes for the planning department, such as public hearings and meetings, are only required under the county land-use code.
“We could take that out of the land-use code, and not require them to be published in the newspaper,” he said.
The county said they would post the planning department public notices on the county website and on county bulletin boards. Any proposed changes to the land-use code are announced, then reviewed by the planning board during a regular meeting. Public comment is taken, and the board votes to recommend the changes be brought up before the county commission. A public hearing is then announced and scheduled, and the commissioners vote on the matter.
State statutes set the public notice rates, which were last updated in 1993. The Journal recently increased their rates, but they’re within state-mandated rates.
Montezuma County Treasurer Sherry Dyess was dismayed by a rate increase for publishing delinquent property tax notices. However, she noted the charge for the delinquent tax notice is billed to the property owner, and does not impact the Treasurer’s budget.
Dyess and commissioner Keenan Ertel wondered whether The Journal qualifies as a legal local newspaper under the statute because its owners are in La Plata County and it is printed in Farmington. Baxter said he would look into it, but was not sure if that claim could be legally defended.
