Newsletter changes bring Mundelein some cash
The Mundelein village board's decision to change how the town's newsletter is published turned out to be a profitable one.
The board eliminated the quarterly project's printing costs by turning over the job to a Wisconsin company in November 2010. The move has saved an estimated $10,679 so far, according to a village memo.
Additionally, the newsletter - called "Mundelein Matters" - now includes advertising, which covers the printer's costs. The advertising business has been so good, the revenue has exceeded the anticipated printing costs, which will result in a roughly $4,000 rebate to the village, Assistant Village Administrator Michael Flynn said.
That money will cover about half of the postage costs associated with mailing the newsletter to local residents and business owners.
"It's been a bigger success than we imagined," Trustee Ray Semple said. "I believe there's a waiting (list) of local businesses that want to buy ad space in the newsletter."
Loaded with community news, public-safety information, contact numbers for department heads and meeting schedules, the newsletter is mailed to every household in the village.
Published for 27 years, the most recent issue was produced in September. Online editions and a digital archive dating back to 2009 can be found on the village's website, mundelein.org.
Like many area villages, Mundelein has been struggling financially in recent years, and town leaders have taken a variety of cost-cutting measures. At one point, trustees debated reducing the "Mundelein Matters" printing schedule or making it a digital-only publication.
Scrapping the newsletter was discussed, too.
But then the board struck a deal with Liturgical Publications, a New Berlin, Wis. company specializing in printing newsletters and bulletins for churches and organizations.
Semple called the arrangement with the company "fabulous." It's such a hit, the village board on Monday unanimously voted to extend its contract with Liturgical Publications until 2014.
Semple encouraged other village boards to consider adopting similar printing plans.
"We often get accused of not thinking out of the box," Semple said, referring to the business-world cliché. "Well, we did think outside the box, and it worked out well."
The savings from the newsletter changes barely makes a ripple in Mundelein's multimillion-dollar annual budget, but Flynn is still proud of the effort.
"In the big picture it's not much, but it's an example of thinking about the way we do things and finding a better way to do it," he said.