On Tuesday, Nov. 21, the Volusia County Council will discuss the possibility of advertising proposed new laws and other government proceedings on a website instead of a local newspaper.

Doing so could save the county as much as $70,000 per year, a report determined, but news providers across the state and country have cautioned that such a move would limit access to vital information, and may not be as inexpensive in the long run as the county expects.

For years, whenever a government wanted to adopt a new law, change city codes or do just about anything, it had to advertise its intent in a newspaper. This was to ensure that as many people as possible knew a development hearing, a controversial resolution or any other government decision was coming and could attend a public meeting. With the passage of Florida House Bill 7049 during the 2022 legislative session, the Florida Legislature determined that governments across the state could use government-funded websites instead of local newspapers.

The Volusia County Council asked its staff to investigate whether Volusia should take advantage of this change. A report prepared by the county’s legal department found it would save the county money.

“The average yearly cost to County Departments for publication and notices is approximately $110,000 …,” the report said. “Staff estimates that using a publicly accessible website for publication of legal notices would result in a reduction of expenses of approximately $70,000 per year, not including the cost of a third-party service provider.”

Newspapers across the state of Florida, however — including The West Volusia Beacon — have upheld that publishing legal and government notices on a government website represents a conflict of interest and would restrict the public’s ability to keep up with their elected representatives.

“Call it the fox guarding the hen house,” a 2021 editorial published by the USA Today network said.

Local organizations, like The Hometown News, are speaking out, too.

“It is an especially bad idea in a county where the largest segment of the population, 27 percent, is aged 65 and over,” the Hometown News’ editorial board wrote in an open letter to the Volusia County Council. “A common complaint of our older readers is that they don’t want to go online for information, they want it in print so they feel like they have something real. Many of them don’t even own a computer.”

Volusia County uses The Daytona Beach News-Journal for its legal publications, while other municipalities, like the Town of Pierson, advertise in The Beacon.

“Currently the average cost for an ordinance advertisement in the legal notice section of the Daytona Beach News-Journal costs approximately $350 per advertisement,” the county’s legal team said. “Advertisements required to be published as a display advertisement or full-page displays range in cost from $1000 to $8000 per advertisement depending on the amount of space required for the advertisement.”

Per state statute, any new website created and managed by Volusia County would have to be searchable and accept other types of legal notice currently published in newspapers, such as divorce notices, business announcements and notices to creditors. The new website would also have to be made available to other municipalities and government agencies like the Volusia County School Board.

The county’s legal department recommended, if the County Council decides to pursue a website for public notices, that it select a third-party agency to develop that website, using a competitive application process. The legal department also recognized that, because the legislation is new, there would be potential growing pains. Local rules, for instance, explicitly state that TRIM, or Truth in Millage, notices sent out annually to advertise property-tax rates must be published in a newspaper.

The Volusia County Council will discuss the legal department’s findings and whether to continue publishing public information in newspapers at its meeting beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, in the County Council Chambers at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center, 123 W. Indiana Ave. in DeLand.