By Haddam Killingworth News Board of Managers
(June 11, 2026) — The Board of Managers of Haddam Killingworth News held a special meeting on June 10, 2026 where it was decided that it is no longer financially feasible to continue to send the newspaper to the residents of the Town of Killingworth. The last newspaper to be mailed to Killingworth residents will be on July 9, 2026.
This decision was not taken lightly. Over the years the newspaper had built significant reserves but in the past year and a half those reserves fell to under $6,000. Expenses were up, and revenues from Killingworth were down. The cost of postage increased by more than $100 a week. Furthermore, it became necessary to hire people to do work that previously had been done by volunteers. On the revenue side, while the town of Killingworth published its legal notices in the newspaper, only a handful of businesses in Killingworth advertised in the newspaper. It became apparent that the newspaper would be bankrupt in a matter of weeks.
The weekly cost to publish the newspaper and send it to residents of both towns is $2,228. Killingworth’s proportional share is $822. Discontinuing the paper to Killingworth will eliminate printing and postage costs of $564 per week and more than eliminate the weekly losses the newspaper has been sustaining. This will allow the Board of Managers to publish the newspaper for Haddam residents.
We are very appreciative of the article Clark Judge wrote explaining that the newspaper needed more Killingworth support. Clark’s article appeared in the April 16, 2026 issue. As a stopgap measure, several Board of Managers members made personal donations of $4,500 to sustain the newspaper until businesses in Killingworth could step up and purchase ads. Unfortunately, the latter did not come to fruition.
A number of individuals from Killingworth have made donations to the newspaper in response to the Clark Judge article, and we appreciate that. However, the necessary ongoing income from business advertisements did not develop; hence the decision. Nevertheless, articles sent to HK-NowEditors@outlook.com will continue to be posted to our online newspaper, HK-Now.com.
As of mid-July the masthead will return to Haddam News. Will this newspaper ever return to being a paper for both our towns? We hope so! In order for this to happen, there needs to be a group of people from Killingworth who value a two-town newspaper and are willing to take responsibility for taking the necessary action to achieve such a result.
Several members of the Board of Managers plan to attend the Killingworth Board of Selectmen meeting on June 22, 2026.
I’m a longtime Killingworth resident and a longtime retired public school educator.
For what it’s worth, and responding to the situation of needing to replace volunteers with hired help (“Furthermore, it became necessary to hire people to do work that previously had been done by volunteers.”) I would be more than willing to volunteer my time in helping to maintain the Killingworth side of this fine local news source.