Voters Being Asked to Choose Between Saving Money and The Public's Right to Know ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) -

Voters in three Michigan communities are being asked to decide between the need to cut spending and their own right to know about what their government's doing.

"Page two...this is Wayne..." says Susan Willet, as she flips through the pages of a recent edition of The Wayne Eagle. Willet and her husband own the Eagle, a newspaper that serves eight small cities in southeast Michigan. The Eagle, like most papers has a mix of local news, sports and community announcements.

"We're pretty typical today in that we were hit by that incredible decline in newspapers when everybody like lemmings raced to the internet and the web," says Willet.

The Eagle's readership has declined from a high of 40,000 to about 15,000 today. Along with fewer readers, Susan Willet says advertising revenue has declined. One source of income has remained constant, government notices.

City charters and state law require local governments to publish public notices about zoning issues, public meetings and other things in a local newspaper.

But voters in Wayne are being asked to approve charter changes that will remove requirements the city put audit and city council meeting minutes in the paper. Eagle Publisher Susan Willet says that puts public's right to know at risk.

"To me it's a question of checks and balances," says Willet, as she points at a public notice in the newspaper, "That it is public record. I believe its very important in our system to keep honest people honest. And this is what that does."

Wayne city leaders think differently.

Wayne City Attorney Richard Clark says its first and foremost about money.

"Our council, like all councils, are looking for ways to save a few dollars," says Clark, "The publication of these two items, which are the only items on our charter amendments, roughly cost the city $150 a month. So we're looking at something in the neighborhood of $2 thousand that we would save in publication fees."

And Clark says the city of Wayne is already reaching more residents through other media.

"Our council minutes are televised. Our council minutes are put on the city's website. Both those things occur the morning after a council meeting," says Clark, "So people are getting information faster through the new era the new method of communicating."

Clark points out Wayne will still be required by state law to publish most of what has appeared in the newspaper for years. For the city of Wayne, that means city tax dollars will still pay for about 5 thousand dollars worth of public notices in the local newspaper, even if the charter amendments pass Tuesday.

But for how much longer.

Cities and towns across Michigan are struggling with rising costs and declining tax revenues. The Michigan Press Association is concerned if voters in Wayne, Ann Arbor and Trenton approve their charter changes Tuesday, pressure may build to allow local governments to forego newspapers altogether and publish their business exclusively on city owned websites.

That could deal a devastating blow to Michigan newspapers large and small.

"Well," sighs Susan Willet of the Wayne Eagle, "I think that would probably be the end of us. I mean, after a hundred or a hundred and fifty years, I think that would be the end of us. I really do because right now its its what's keeping us going."

Willet says its in the city's best interest to continue to use tax dollars to publish public notices in local newspapers to maintain them as a community resource.

We'll see Tuesday if voters in Wayne as well as Ann Arbor and Trenton agree. © Copyright 2009, Michigan Radio