Office of Information Practices

U Memo 12-1
July 8, 2011
Reasonableness of Fees and Costs

Requester asked whether the requested cost for copies of executive session minutes from the State Ethics Commission was reasonable.

OIP found that the State Ethics Commission had already performed the work of searching for, reviewing, and segregating the documents requested. The fees and costs for the work were based on the actual work performed and were not an estimate. OIP found that the total charges were reasonable given the volume of records and work performed.

OIP indicated that the agency did not provide a good faith estimate to the requester before doing the work. If the requester wanted to narrow his request now, he may pay the lesser amount for the fewer records. If he did not narrow his request, and the fees are not paid, the request is deemed abandoned.