By BOB YATES
Dallas Morning News

Since going "commercial" in early March, APSE's job board is bringing needed revenue to the organization's coffers.

The first paid ad appeared on the job bank on March 11. Since then, APSE has collected $1,550 for ad placements. Another $475 is owed for invoices that have been sent out.

Ed Storin, APSE's secretary/treasurer, says the paid ads should help to hold off a membership dues increase.

"I am going to suggest that we budget $7,000 in income from the job board for next year." Storin said. "This is badly needed since membership income and interest income is down this year. We were going to have to take a serious look at increasing dues until we came up with this idea."

Greg Brownell, sports editor at the Glen Falls Post-Star, has used other boards in addition to APSE and is happy with the results he gets from APSE.

"I now use the APSE site almost exclusively," he said. "So far I've got 30 responses from the posting of about two weeks ago."

Brownell has some concerns about the switch to paid ads, though.

"We can handle the $25," he said. "I'm a little worried about the impact on the smallest of the small papers."

All told, 39 paid ads have been posted on the job board. "Only two papers are more than a month overdue on paying," Storin said. "So it looks like most people are accepting our new policy."

At the winter meetings in Orlando, APSE president Bill Eichenberger signed off on the idea of charging for ads on the job board. Ads had been free since the job board went on-line in October 1999.

Member papers under 100,000 are charged $25 per ad. Member papers over 100,000 are charged $50 per ad. Non-members are charged $150 per ad.

"What is also great is that a couple of papers and ESPN who are not members have accepted the fact that they have to pay more than members," Storin said.

APSE has billed five ads to non-members for a total of $750, 21 ads to smaller member newspapers ($525) and 14 ads to larger papers ($700).

The ads go on-line within a day or two of submission and stay on the board for a month.