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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction is trying to win back thousands of dollars in advertising revenue lost when Mesa County’s public trustee began publishing foreclosure notices in two weekly newspapers instead.

The Sentinel has printed columns of the legal notices for decades. But Trustee Paul Brown, a political appointee who acts as an intermediary between borrowers and lenders, said that after the newspaper printed a mistake in one, he learned the Palisade Tribune and Fruita Times could scan the notices and publish them as display ads, thereby reducing mistakes.

Brown said The Daily Sentinel wanted to charge more than twice what the weekly newspapers offered to do the same thing.

Sentinel Publisher Jay Seaton countered that his newspaper’s circulation of about 30,000 is far larger than that of the weeklies, where the circulation is about 2,500.

Seaton conceded it would cost more to run the notices as display ads because it could add 24 pages to the newspaper. But he said The Sentinel charged exactly what the weekly newspapers do for notices published in columns of classified ads, a format in which the legal notices have appeared for years.

Seaton contends publishing in smaller newspapers improperly limits who sees banks’ notices of foreclosures and could affect homeowners’ due process rights.

“That’s the real head scratcher. You’re getting way less for the money, but no one’s saving a dime,” Seaton said Thursday.

Brown concedes the weekly newspapers have smaller circulations but flyers of foreclosure listings also are circulated in city halls, county offices, libraries and real estate offices.

The Daily Sentinel had about $540,000 in advertising revenue from the foreclosure notices from October 2009 to October 2010, Seaton said. He said the newspaper has cut two full-time employees and moved two more into part-time posts because of the change.

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s deputy chief of staff has spoken to Seaton and Brown about the matter. Hickenlooper’s spokesman Eric Brown told The Denver Post ( ) the involvement was limited to making sure a public process was followed regarding where the legal notices would be published.

The trustee had issued a request for proposals in selecting a place to publish notices.

Paul Brown said he offered to Seaton to split up notices by ZIP code, running the Palisade ones in the Palisade newspaper and the Grand Junction ones in The Sentinel. “He turned me down. He said, ‘I want them all,'” the trustee said.

Seaton said he hasn’t ruled out legal action.