Erie County Weekly Newspapers for LLC Publication: By-Town Guide (2026)

If you are forming an LLC in Erie County, the publication requirement asks for a notice in one daily and one weekly newspaper. We covered the daily side separately — two approved papers, countywide. This is the complete guide to the weekly half, and it works a little differently, so let's start with the part that trips people up.

The Weekly Side Has a Twist: It's Organized by Town

Under NY LLC Law Section 206, every New York LLC publishes its notice of formation in two newspapers designated by the county clerk — one printed daily and one printed at least weekly — running once each week for six successive weeks. The daily side of that rule is simple in Erie County: the Buffalo News or the Niagara Gazette, either one, anywhere in the county.

The weekly side is where it gets more involved. The Erie County Clerk's legal-publications list (rev. March 21, 2024) designates its approved weeklies by town and village — a long roster mapped to specific municipalities, from the Akron Bugle up in the northeast to the West Seneca Bee in the south. That town-by-town layout is genuinely useful for finding a local paper, but it also creates a common misunderstanding we'll clear up right after the map.

Find Your Town's Approved Weekly

Here is the Erie County Clerk's approved-weekly roster, exactly as it appears on the official legal-publications list (rev. March 21, 2024) — the Clerk maps each town and village to its designated weekly paper(s):

www4.erie.gov/clerk/.../legalpublications_list_w_liquor_license.pdf

Below is that same roster transcribed in full, so you can find your municipality and the weekly paper(s) listed for it. A "None — see nearest" entry means the Clerk does not list a dedicated weekly for that municipality — and as the next section explains, that does not leave you without options.

A pattern worth noticing: a large block of these weeklies — the Amherst Bee, Cheektowaga Bee, Clarence Bee, Depew Bee, East Aurora Bee, Ken-Ton Bee, Lancaster Bee, Orchard Park Bee, and West Seneca Bee — are community papers published by the Bee Group, which takes legal notices through its own portal at quickadcreator.com. The Grand Island Dispatch (legalnotice@wnypapers.com) and the Hamburg Sun (legals@buffnews.com) sit outside that cluster and intake notices their own way. So even within "the weeklies," you are not dealing with one uniform process.

Source: Erie County Clerk — legal-publications list (rev. March 21, 2024). Designations can change; confirm the current list with the Clerk before you publish.

What Section 206 Actually Requires

Here is the misunderstanding that by-town layout creates. It is easy to read the list and conclude that you must use the weekly tied to your town — and that if your town shows "None," you are stuck. Neither is the case.

Section 206 requires a notice in one weekly newspaper designated by the county clerk for the county — not for your specific town. The town groupings on the Clerk's list reflect each paper's coverage area: they show where each approved weekly circulates, which is what makes the list useful for finding a nearby option.

This is also why the "see nearest" notes exist: for a municipality without its own dedicated weekly, the note points residents toward the closest approved paper.

Pricing a Weekly: The Hamburg Sun on Column.us

To make the cost concrete, let's price one weekly end to end. We'll use the Hamburg Sun, the first approved Erie weekly that prices through Column.us — the same self-serve online platform the Buffalo News uses for the daily side. (It is an illustrative example chosen by a neutral rule, not a recommendation — any approved weekly satisfies Section 206.)

On Column.us you type in your Notice of Formation, see a live preview of how it will print, and get an estimated price before scheduling. Here is that pricing screen for a basic templated notice:

https://sun-news.column.us/

The same three numbers that drove the daily-side price drive this one:

• Words: 72 — the full text of a short Notice of Formation
• Lines: 16 — how that text wraps in the paper's narrow legal-notice column
• Total Column Inches: 1.71 — the vertical space the notice occupies

From those, Column.us computes Estimated Price: $396.13 for a basic, short notice.

Why Your Price Won't Be $396.13

As on the daily side, $396.13 is the price of a short, simple notice — and most LLCs are not that short. Column.us bills by line and column-inch, so anything that adds text adds cost. A longer company name, a longer principal address, or a separate registered-agent address all add words, which add lines, which add column-inches:

Dividing the example by its size gives roughly ≈ $232 per column-inch ($396.13 ÷ 1.71). Treat that as approximate — it bundles in any base or minimum fee and won't scale perfectly linearly — but it explains the direction of travel. So treat $396.13 as a floor for a short, simple notice, not a quote. Your weekly notice will likely cost more than this example.

And note that this is only one of the two ads Section 206 requires. The Clerk's list states plainly that publication charges "are not set by the Erie County Clerk" or the State of New York — each paper sets its own rate, so the figure you get from one approved weekly can differ from another.

Two Desks, One Platform: How These Papers Connect

One detail makes the Erie weekly landscape easier to read once you see it: several of these papers share infrastructure with each other and with the daily side.

The Hamburg Sun is published by the Buffalo News. The Clerk lists the Hamburg Sun's legal-notice contact as the Buffalo News desk (legals@buffnews.com, 716-856-5555 Option 3), and both papers' legal notices run on Column.us — which is why pricing a Hamburg Sun notice looks and works just like pricing a Buffalo News one. The Bee Group weeklies cluster the other way: nine community "Bee" papers plus the East Aurora and Amherst-area titles intake notices through quickadcreator.com rather than Column.us.

Knowing which papers share a desk and which platform each uses is part of reading the Erie landscape — even though, under Section 206, the choice of approved weekly is still yours.

The Proof You'll Need: The Affidavit

When the six-week run finishes, each paper issues an Affidavit of Publication — the sworn document that proves the notice ran. The platform-versus-direct trade-off shows up here exactly as it does on the daily side:

• Through a platform like Column.us (more convenient): an online account where you can see your ad and download the affidavit once it is uploaded — typically within about two weeks of the run completing, in our experience.
• Working a paper directly (cheaper, more manual): you avoid the intermediary markup but track the affidavit yourself by phone or email.

A valid affidavit has to contain a specific set of details — the LLC's exact name, proper notarization, a copy of the notice as it ran, confirmation of the six successive weeks, the newspaper's name, and the LLC-Law section matching your entity type (§206 for a domestic LLC). The Department of State can reject one that is missing any of them. The daily-newspaper guide walks through that full affidavit checklist, and the Erie County publication guide covers the affidavit-to-filing process from end to end.

One point worth repeating: both affidavits and the Certificate of Publication are filed with the New York Department of State, not the County Clerk. The Clerk designates the newspapers; the State records the completed publication.

Step Back: The Whole Bill, and the Shortcut

The weekly is one half of the requirement. Section 206 still needs a notice in an approved daily newspaper, each paper's affidavit, and the state filing. Using the two first-listed papers as an illustrative basic-templated example:

And remember, that $932 is the floor. Realistic DIY costs run higher once name length and a second address are factored in: $900-$1,450+.

This is where the shortcut comes in. With LLC Publishers, Erie County publication is a flat $445.00, all-inclusive — no affidavit fees, no state filing fees ($50 included), no rush, mailing, or registered-agent fees, and no per-line surprises. We handle the daily, the weekly, the affidavits, and the state filing, with a money-back guarantee (Certificate of Publication delivered or your service fee is refunded) and an 8–10 week turnaround.

For the complete process, timeline, and DIY-versus-service breakdown, start with the Erie County LLC publication guide, and see the daily newspaper guide for the other half of the requirement.

Keeping This Current

The designated-newspaper list can change. The version mapped here is the Erie County Clerk's legal-publications list revised March 21, 2024, and the Erie County Clerk maintains the authoritative current list — it is worth confirming the latest directly with the Clerk before you publish.

How we maintain this data: the town-by-town weekly map, contacts, and the $396.13 example are drawn from the Erie County Clerk's published legal-publications list (rev. March 21, 2024) and from the Hamburg Sun Column.us pricing screen captured in June 2026. Newspapers set their own rates and can change them at any time. We reference NY LLC Law Section 206 and NY Department of State guidance for the requirement itself.

Last verified: June 2026.

FAQ: Erie County Weekly Newspapers

Which weekly newspapers are approved for LLC publication in Erie County?

The Erie County Clerk designates approved weeklies by town and village — a long roster that includes the Amherst Bee, Cheektowaga Bee, Clarence Bee, and the other Bee Group papers, plus the Hamburg Sun, Grand Island Dispatch, Alden Advertiser, East Aurora Advertiser, Akron Bugle, Lancaster Bee, West Seneca Bee, and several Buffalo community papers (Am-Pol Eagle, Buffalo Rocket, The Jewish Press, and others). Section 206 requires one daily and one weekly from the Clerk's designated list. Always confirm the current list with the Erie County Clerk before publishing.

Do I have to use the weekly newspaper listed for my town?

No. Section 206 requires a weekly newspaper designated by the County Clerk for the county, not for your specific town. The Clerk's list is organized by municipality so filers can find a nearby option, but the town groupings reflect each paper's coverage area — any approved Erie County weekly satisfies the requirement.

What if no weekly newspaper is listed for my town?

A "None — see nearest" entry means the Clerk does not list a dedicated weekly for that municipality. It does not mean you have no options. Because Section 206 asks for a weekly designated for the county, any approved Erie County weekly remains available to you — the Clerk's "see nearest" note simply points you toward the closest one.

How much does a Hamburg Sun LLC notice cost?

A basic templated Notice of Formation prices at $396.13 for the full six-week run on Column.us (72 words, 16 lines, ≈1.71 column-inches). That figure is an illustrative minimum for a short, simple notice — the Hamburg Sun bills by line and column-inch (≈$232 per column-inch, derived), so most notices cost more. The price covers all six weekly insertions, not a single week.

Why does the Hamburg Sun run on the Buffalo News' Column.us platform?

The Hamburg Sun is published by the Buffalo News. The Clerk lists its legal-notice contact as the Buffalo News desk (legals@buffnews.com, 716-856-5555 Option 3), and both papers' legal notices run on the same Column.us platform — which is why pricing and submitting a Hamburg Sun notice works just like the Buffalo News daily.

What are the Bee Group papers, and how do I submit to them?

The Amherst Bee, Cheektowaga Bee, Clarence Bee, Depew Bee, East Aurora Bee, Ken-Ton Bee, Lancaster Bee, Orchard Park Bee, and West Seneca Bee are community weeklies published by the Bee Group. Unlike the Hamburg Sun and Buffalo News (which use Column.us), the Bee Group takes legal notices through its own portal at quickadcreator.com. Each paper sets its own rate, so contact the Bee Group for a quote.

Do I need a weekly and a daily, or just one?

Both. Section 206 requires publication in two newspapers designated by the County Clerk — one printed daily and one printed at least weekly — each running once a week for six successive weeks. A weekly alone (or a daily alone) does not satisfy the requirement. See the daily-newspaper guide for the daily half.

What is the total weekly-plus-daily cost compared with a service?

DIY in Erie's approved papers means two ads plus the $50 state fee. Using the two first-listed papers as a basic templated example, that is roughly $486.38 (Buffalo News) + $396.13 (Hamburg Sun) + $50 = about $932 — and higher for longer notices. With LLC Publishers, Erie County publication is a flat $445.00, all-inclusive, with a money-back guarantee. Realistic DIY ranges run $900-$1,450+.

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The Hamburg Sun, the Bee Group weeklies, and the other designated papers set their own pricing and can change rates at any time — the $396.13 figure reflects a basic templated notice on Column.us as observed in June 2026, and most notices cost more. Newspaper designation lists are maintained by the county clerk and can change without notice. For specific legal questions about your LLC, consult a qualified attorney. LLC Publishers provides publication services and administrative filing assistance, but we are not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice. LLC Publishers is not affiliated with the Erie County Clerk's Office, the New York Department of State, the Hamburg Sun, the Buffalo News, the Bee Group, or Column.us.

Key Takeaways

• Erie County designates its approved weeklies by town and village — a roster of 40+ municipalities mapped to community papers, from the Bee Group titles to the Hamburg Sun.
• The by-town list is a locator, not a limit. Section 206 requires one weekly designated by the County Clerk for the county — so even a town marked "None — see nearest" leaves every approved Erie weekly available.
• A basic templated Hamburg Sun notice runs $396.13 for the full six-week run on Column.us (72 words, 16 lines, ≈1.71 column-inches) — an illustrative minimum, not a quote.
• Column.us bills per line / column-inch (≈$232/column-inch, derived), so a longer name, a longer address, or a second address pushes the price above the example.
• The price covers all six weekly insertions — you do not multiply by six.
• The papers share infrastructure: the Hamburg Sun is published by the Buffalo News (both on Column.us), while the Bee Group weeklies intake notices through quickadcreator.com.
• Affidavits and the Certificate of Publication go to NY DOS, not the County Clerk — via a platform like Column.us the affidavit typically posts within about two weeks.
• The weekly is only half the requirement — Section 206 also needs an approved daily. With LLC Publishers, both are handled for a flat $445.00, all-inclusive, versus a DIY two-ad floor of roughly $932.