Legal ads or legal gibberish
A bill has been introduced in the state Senate that would allow government agencies to take public notices out of newspapers and instead post them online.
The advertisements cover a wide range of topics — announcements of upcoming public hearings, notices about zoning changes that have been requested, alerts that local government is about to adopt some sort of new regulation.
They’re designed to keep residents informed. To keep local governments from adopting changes that affect constituents without those constituents knowing what’s about to happen.
Co-sponsors of the electronic publication legislation include state Sen. Michael Waugh, R-York. His rationale seems to mirror that of bill sponsor Sen. Robert Robbins, R-Mercer. The bill, he says, would modernize a decades-old requirement, making legal notices readily available to residents. The bill, he says, would save local governments money because they wouldn’t have to pay to post the advertisements.
There are some obvious flaws in the proposal. The most obvious … well, take Waugh’s district. It includes 45 municipalities. When I checked last week, I couldn’t find Web sites for 22 of the 45. Two others had Web sites that clearly aren’t active.
But let’s look beyond the flaws in the proposal and at the legal ads themselves for a moment. Bottom line: Too often, they’re legal gibberish that serves no one.
For instance, earlier this month, Yoe advertised that council planned to meet to set the property tax rate for 2008. Nowhere in the legal announcement was it mentioned that council was considering a tax hike of 1 mill. Which would be rather significant since the borough’s 2007 tax rate was less than 2 mills.
I dare you to read the legal advertisements municipalities are placing in newspapers to explain the changes in the $52 job tax. The changes are pretty simple. The name of the tax is changing. It won’t be taken from paychecks in one lump sum at the start of the year. Folks earning $12,000 or less are exempt. But the ads sure aren’t simple. It’s almost a textbook example of how to write so that no one will understand what you’ve written. Some conveniently omit the new exemption.
Here’s one of my recent favorites, a minor classic courtesy of York Township: “Within 60 days of the date hereof, the York Township board of commissioners will consider for passage an ordinance amending the code of the township of York to provide for additional stop intersection and speed limitations.”
Say what? Does that mean new stop signs will be placed and speed limits changed? If so, where? If I’m a resident, how in the world do I know if I’m affected?
So here’s my advice for our state senators — Robbins, Waugh, et al (for crying out loud, now they’ve got me writing legalese).
Let’s postpone the debate over where legal ads are published. Let’s first make sure the public notices that are published serve their intended purpose, that they truly notify the public of what’s happening.
Because now, far too often, that isn’t the case.