The South Dakota Newspaper Association (SDNA) recently testified in support of a rate increase for public notice advertisements published in its members’ newspapers. The Aug. 23 hearing had been called by the state’s Bureau of Administration (BOA) to consider its proposal to increase those rates by approximately 4.8 percent.

Under state law, BOA sets maximum rates for public notice advertising and is required to “annually review and adjust rates to reflect changes in economic conditions.” Nonetheless, it had been five years since the agency had done that before it initiated a formal review of fees in March. The review appeared to have been spurred by a written request the department received from SDNA a few days earlier.

SDNA initially asked for a 5 percent bump in prices. In his testimony supporting BOA’s proposal, Executive Director David Bordewyk (pictured above) argued the Consumer Price Index has increased 1.76 percent per year since 2016 and his members have absorbed even larger increases in costs associated with postage, printing, wages and employee health care.

According to SDNA, there was no opposition testimony presented at the hearing.

BOA accepted comments on its proposal until Sept. 3. The department will now finalize its recommendation and submit it to the legislature’s Rules Review Committee. If it is approved by the committee, the rate increase would take effect Jan. 1, 2022.