A series of anonymous advertisements has people in the central Newfoundland community of Grand Falls-Windsor talking about how the province is spending money it has earned after expropriating AbitibiBowater's former hydro assets.

Run bi-weekly in the local Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser under a banner that reads "Expropriation by the Numbers," the sparsely worded ads suggest the province has so far earned $28 million from the hydro facilities.

The ads say that's $1,100 for every citizen in the Exploits Valley, and question why more of that money isn't being spent in the region.

Grand Falls-Windsor Mayor Rex Barnes said he is frustrated by the group's secrecy, but he thinks it has a point.

"It is bringing out the dollar value. It's bringing out conversation in the town because people are talking about it," he says.

But if the secret advertisers really want things to change, he said, they need to come forward.

"Probably the people involved with this should be setting up a working committee to make sure, to work alongside with councils, to make sure that this is not forgotten and that we want to have a seat at the table, to discuss this with government, and say we deserve something," he said.

Gerald Thompson, a representative for the Exploits Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he has spent his summer trying to convince the province to hammer out a funding formula for the region, and he hopes the grassroots movement will ruffle some feathers.

"If more people, private people, can assist and move this envelope forward with us … we would certainly appreciate it, " he said.

CBC News emailed the advertisers a few weeks ago, but an anonymous reply said they weren't ready to talk yet as their mandate is a work in progress.

The province expropriated AbtibiBowater's hydro assets in response to the company's closure of the paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor last March.