Times opinion by Melanie Brubaker Mazur
In an effort to save money, Bayfield officials are asking town voters in the Nov. 6 election to authorize publishing town ordinances by title only in the Pine River Times, then having the complete content of the legals available on the town website at www.bayfieldgov.org.
Voters should give a deep six to the question.
According to state statutes, town ordinances currently must be published in a legal newspaper and in this case, that's the Times. This has been the law for decades. But a relatively recent revision to the law allows municipalities to publish ordinances by title only, provided the question is approved by voters.
The town typically pays about $1,000 to $1,500 a month to publish its legal notices. Whenever there are amendments to land-use codes, those public notices can run for two or four pages, but this typically happens once a year at the most, or more typically, every couple of years.
Yes, the Times does make money from publishing legal notices, but this is a small price for the town to pay to keep citizens informed about local government actions. Also, one former town board trustee said she believes towns should support local business.
Publishing ordinances by title only could be deceiving. From a title, citizens would have no idea what an ordinance would pertain to. It could be something that might cost taxpayers hundreds of dollars yet have an innocuous title with little or no information.
If citizens did have some idea of what an ordinance dealt with, to get all the details they would have to go to the town website.
Keeping citizens informed is good government. Publishing town ordinances in their entirety in a local newspaper is convenient for citizens, cost-effective for taxpayers and promotes good government practices by keeping citizens informed in a timely manner of official local government actions. Also, locals read their legal notices and town ordinances. Reading them on a computer - which some folks here don't have, or their Internet connections are awfully slow - isn't viable for all of our residents.
Nov. 6, voters should say no to publishing legal notices by title only.
Our other recommendations on local Igancio and Bayfield issues for this year's elections are as follows: The Times supports no votes on Bayfield Ballot Question 2B and 2C. Yes, there is marijuana use in Bayfield, but legal sales of pot in town limits isn't going to raise that much revenue. In our opinoin, it's not worth the headaches that can come with dispensaries.
What Bayfield does have is a well-run library with lots of books, activities and youth programs. A small increase in our property taxes to pay for those services make sense. Vote yes on Ballot Issue 6A.
Also, Upper Pine River Fire Protection isn't asking for a tax increase, but permission to adjust the mill levy so it can keep the funding it receives from residential property owners. This is known as "de-Gallagherization." Vote yes on 7A.
In Ignacio, the cemetery district is asking for a small mill-levy increase. This seems reasonable, considering they are overseeing five cemeteries in the area. Vote yes on Ballot Issue 6D.
