Local News Saves Money For Taxpayers

A study from Rebuild Local News found that the lack of journalism in communities results in increased costs “in the form of higher taxes or cuts in services.”

“Local governments borrow money through the municipal bond market to finance crucial infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, highways, and water systems,” according to Matthew Baker and Dermot Murphy who authored the study. But they are “more likely to engage in wasteful spending in ‘news deserts’ which have zero newspaper outlets.”

This results in municipal bond lenders asking for “higher interest rates as compensation for the risk of lending to an unmonitored local government that engages in wasteful spending.”

“In the United States, 21.2% of the population lives in a news desert; within these news deserts, the total incremental borrowing cost is $1.1 billion per year, and the associated per household cost burden is $38 per year,” according to the study.

The Village of Elmwood Park had a newspaper called the Elm Leaves, which was founded in 1913. Residents can still subscribe to the Elm Leaves. It is on the newspaper rack at the library, and village officials use it to circulate public notices for hearings, bids for contracts, and the disposal of records, etc, that are required by law. But the newspaper no longer employs reporters dedicated to regularly writing and reporting on Elmwood Park.

Editions of the Elm Leaves tend to cover several suburban Chicago communities, like Elmhurst, La Grange, Naperville, and Oak Park. Specific coverage of Elmwood Park rarely appears in the newspaper, which means that in many respects Elmwood Park is largely a news desert.

Also, the study confirmed that neighboring local governments with “robust news coverage do not see any increase in municipal borrowing costs.”

We do not know if Elmwood Park’s borrowing costs are substantially higher than, for example, Oak Park or River Forest which benefits from the Wednesday Journal.

The Elmwood Park Advocate, which started a little more than year ago, has tried to make up for the lack of local journalism, and several articles have called attention to questionable spending decisions.

We intend to do more accountability journalism that can benefit residents. Yet as a volunteer organization with no budget, there is only so much that the newsletter can do. It will be a while before it grows enough to fill the void.

Fortunately, we have seen remarkable engagement and interest from residents who recognize the value of community news.

On Saturday, June 20, at 3 pm, we invite residents to join us at the Elmwood Park Public Library in the Ferrentino Room.

We will celebrate our first year, offer feedback on our reporting and writing, and discuss the role that the Elmwood Park Advocate should play in the community. (RSVP here.)

More details on this event can be found here.