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There is seldom space available in the newsletter for fillers such as Extension Services articles. During the past year, especially, there have been more requests to print information than there is space available. Information such as local rules and regulations are repeated monthly because of the continuing influx of new residents. An Alternative: The Andover, Anoka, Ramsey Times is priuted monthly and distributed by the same company that delivers the Anoka County Union, using the ECM newspaper boxes. The cost to print City information is $850 per newspaper page. In addition, there is a monthly delivery charge of $515 for delivering the paper to 5,036 households in Ramsey. Businesses in Ramsey could reach City residents through paid advertisements in the Andover, Anoka, Ramsey Times. They cannot advertise in the Ramsey Resident. Comparison: Cost Comparing the cost of publishing the Ramsey Resident versus printing City information in the/lndover, Anolia, Ramsey Times is difficult for several reasons. The number of issues is not the same ( seven or eight versus twelve). Also, the amount of space required in the newspaper is difficult to judge. In 1996, the publisher of the Andover, Anoka, Ramsey Times estimated that Ramsey information would require two newspaper pages per month. To get a more accurate estimate, the Administrative Services Manager reviewed all 1997 and 1998 issues of the Ramsey Resident and analyzed the content. She deducted all non-city items, including those about the elementary school, the Lions and Women of Today, lists of volunteer opportunities, classes, etc. She then figured that one page of the newspaper holds roughly the same amount of space as two pages of the newsletter. The chart below was constructed using actual numbers for printing and postage in 1997 and 1998 and distributing the budgeted amount of staff time evenly among the issues printed each year. The estimate for the cost of printing the same amount of city-only information in the newspaper was calculated based on the per page rate quoted by the publisher, $850 per page, plus the delivery cost of $515 per month. Even if the estimate of city-only information is reduced by an additional 33%, there is not a financial advantage to using the newspaper.