I’ve been designing and printing things since high school (as a senior project, my very first brochure was for Hogwarts, complete with specialty paper). Since then, I’ve overseen thousands of print jobs for campaigns, businesses, and nonprofits. I know how much paper, ink, and postage cost. Printing isn’t cheap.
But even I was stunned when I dug into how much Clayton has spent on printing lately.
Over just the past three years, the Town shelled out close to a million dollars on printing, copying, advertising, and swag. That’s an average of nearly $300,000 a year.
Here’s the rough breakdown:
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$337k on utility bill printing
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$159k on copier leases and copies
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$109k on “other printing”
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$97k on promotions
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$72k on signage printing (including “social district” wayfinding, which judging by the condition, will need reprinting soon)
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$113k on advertising
That’s a lot of paper, ink, and landfill swag.
Bills stuffed with extras
Utility bills aren’t just bills, they come stuffed with full-color extras. There’s a legal-sized folded newsletter mailed quarterly (which, yes, has illegally featured my photos). One recent insert included grilling tips… and just in case you missed them, the exact same grilling tips were reprinted in full color on the back of the bill.
The calendar insert? That would make more sense as an email. And all those extras don’t just raise print costs, they increase postage too.
Apparently, paperless billing is an option, but if you still receive a paper bill and signed up before the last few years, you probably won’t know about it. Honestly, all of these inserts could have just been an email.
To make matters worse, the Town already pays for email marketing platforms — Constant Contact and Mailchimp — about $5,500 over three years. So we’re footing the bill for digital tools and still printing like it’s 1999.
Trees, ducks, and hypocrisy
This isn’t just about dollars. Every full-color insert and reprinted banner also has an environmental cost. We talk about sustainability, yet the Town is burning through paper like it grows on trees (which, ironically, it does… until it doesn’t).
And that $97k in promotions? Fun for a moment, landfill forever.
Meanwhile, the Town insists the high-resolution, full-color PDFs where my photos appeared were “not for print.” If so, what exactly are we spending nearly a million dollars on? Duplicate grilling tips? Reprinted banners to cover up licensing mistakes?
Priorities
Not all spending is bad. The Downtown Concert Series, the free photo booth they offer, those are things residents actually enjoy, and ideally the Town is getting a good municipal rate. Some spending makes sense when it creates real community value.
But here’s the problem: a lot of this money is destined straight for the landfill. When residents are already facing double-digit utility rate increases every year, we can’t afford to burn nearly a million dollars on swag and printing that could have been an email.
Clayton deserves better than duplicate grilling tips, poop-shaped stress balls (yes, this was a thing), and full-color inserts that go straight into the trash. Residents deserve transparency, smarter spending, and communication that actually works.