The Budget

The Budget is a weekly newspaper written for and by members of the Amish, Amish Mennonite, Beachy Amish, and Mennonite communities from 1890 to the present. Currently, The Budget is published in two editions: a local edition and a national edition, each with different content and readership.

History

The founder and first editor of The Budget from 1890 though 1913 was Amish Mennonite John C. Miller, who was nicknamed "Budget John". Amish Mennonite minister Samuel H. Miller was the second editor through 1920. He was followed by S.A. Smith until 1930, when Smith's son George R. Smith took over until 1969. Serving as editor for nearly 40 years, and continuing as associate editor even after that, George R. Smith contributed greatly to shaping The Budget into what it is today.

The current publisher since 2000 is Keith Rathbun, formerly of the Cleveland Scene alternative weekly. Rathbun gave The Budget its first online exposure in the form of an official website, a move which surprised some of the readership and generated some mainstream media attention due to the apparent logical contradiction of an Amish website.