ALM Media

The [redacted]) overcharges small business owners who are forced to use their public notice service to meet the publication requirements of [redacted] LLC and Partnership law. The [redacted] is the ONLY approved daily newspaper in all of [redacted] county. By law, it is mandatory that every single LLC and LLP formed in ** County publish an advertisement in the [redacted] within 120 days of formation. The [redacted] takes advantage of this monopoly and charges exorbitantly high prices. I was quoted $723.20 for a 14-line ad. I reduced the ad to 13 lines and was told that there is a 14-line minimum and that there is no way to reduce the price. This is an unfair practice. Why is there are required minimum for public notice ads? When I asked how much a 13-line ad that was not a public notice would cost, I was not given a numerical answer. Also unfair is that the [redacted] initially tried to force me to submit my ad through their online system which has a template that makes your ad 21 lines at a cost of $1,082.30. Only after I insisted that I create my own ad was I given an email address to do so. I worry that other small business owners are not being given this option. As a comparison, the same 14-line ad in my second assigned newspaper costs $396 (also expensive). It is clear to me that this [redacted] Law is unjust because it funnels money to publications that do not face any competition. It is also clear to me that the [redacted] takes advantage of small business owners by requiring a 14-line minimum, prohibiting pricing below $723.20, and encouraging the use of an online template that produces a 21-line ad (when only 13 lines are needed). I ask that the [redacted] stop taking advantage of small business owners and charge a fair price with no minimums for its public notice ads. I also ask that the [redacted] and its associates stop lobbying our legislators to keep a law in place that is no longer necessary, unfairly lines the pockets of certain newspapers, and adds up to an additional $1000+ cost to every single person that forms and LLC or LLP in [redacted].