Newsprint prices have increased. Wages have increased. Yet when it came time to negotiate for a new legal notice rate, the Lincoln County, MN board negotiated hard with their local newspapers. Uniquely, the 2 newspapers in the running proposed to jointly bid for the right to publish legal notices.

This was all reported in the Marshall Independent on January 4. Lincoln County only allowed the joint bid if pricing to publish notices (whic gets negotiated each year) was reduced. Understanding that on-lin advertising has already taken much of the newpspaper industry revenues already, the 2 newspapers lowered their rates by 10% (from $8.60 per column inch to $7.74) despite the fact that their costs are increasing. In addition, it appears that those prices will remain the same for several years.

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