The Express, a free newspaper based in Fort Assiniboine, could be in jeopardy unless they either get additional funding or make changes in how they publish.
That is what a delegation from the paper told Woodlands County councillors during their April 12 in Fort Assiniboine meeting where they asked them to consider increasing the grant to $20,000.
The paper publishes nine times a year and is distributed to Woodlands County residents. The paper should not to be confused with the Woodlands Communicator, the newsletter the county publishes to keep residents informed about services they provide.
The majority of the paper’s funding comes from a $15,000 county grant, but treasurer Dorothy Mack said although they have enough money to publish for the remainder of the year, the paper’s steering committee isn’t so sure about next year. Mack estimated it costs $20,000 annually to produce the product.
“This was sufficient, but not any more. Not if we want to continue to provide it to all Woodlands County residents free of charge,” she said, noting that they recently had to increase the number of papers they distribute after finding out a number of county residents in the Whitecourt and Blue Ridge areas were not receiving it.
Whitecourt Central Coun. Ron Govenlock said although the group provided a breakdown of expenses they did not provide information regarding revenue.
“Typically there should be a revenue side to the equation and advertising is typically the way it would be done. Is there any advertising you can go out and solicit,” he asked.
Mack said in 2017, they received just short of $2,000.
“Advertising has really gone down in The Express. It really isn’t that great of a place to advertise since we only come out nine times a year.” she said, adding they lost a revenue stream when it was decided to no longer charge not-for-profit groups to advertise their event on the community events page. “Subscriptions brought in another $690, but its really not that much after you pay for the postage.”
Anselmo Coun. Sylvia Bonnett asked about the history of the paper and if it was originally a county initiative.
Steering committee member Brita Kuelken said its history predates the county.
“We had an advisory council for the area [Fort Assiniboine] and my husband was on it and he noticed when people put on events in the Fort quite often people planned events for the same day,” she said. “So he thought it would be good to have a newsletter to let people know what was going on.”
Originally Kuelken said the newsletter was typeset by the hamlet’s school secretary and a group of volunteers and printed via a local press.
“I think we got more ink on ourselves than the newsletter,” she said, adding the newsletter was self funded through advertising.
Kuelken added as the publication grew so did the amount of work.
“We can’t ask all the people that put in all the work to get the paper out to volunteer and that is how the costs started to rise,” she said.
Out of the $2,288 it costs to put out an average 16-page issue the biggest expense is printing and freight at $846. The next largest expenses are postage and wages at $682 and $665 respectively.
Goose Lake/Freeman River Coun. Dale McQueen asked if they needed to print as many copies.
“I read three or four papers a day faithfully and I don’t look at a piece of paper. Everything is online. I think you have to start gearing up for the times and while you might not get rid of all the paper you can cut down a lot of it,” he said.
Mack agreed and it is something the paper’s steering committee is seriously considering, saying she believes the average age of The Express are people 50 and above.
“I honestly wonder how many younger people read it and I very much wonder how many Whitecourt-area people read it. I know they live in Woodlands County but their work and lives are in Whitecourt,” she said.
Blue Ridge Coun. Bruce Prestidge suggested the number of copies mailed to the hamlet could also be reduced.
“We have bins next to the mail box that everyone dumps their flyers and people don’t even look at them. They are just thrown in there,” he said, suggesting they could ask their readers to see how many would like to receive their copy electronically.
Council invited the delegation to return in the fall after they had a chance to poll their readership.
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