§ 2-353. Fees and charges for copies or access.

(a)

Statement of purpose; review. It is the purpose of this section to establish reasonable fees and charges for the provision of access to or copies of open public records in the possession of the unified government to avoid the necessity of using general public funds of the unified government to subsidize special services and benefits to a record requester. The official record custodians shall periodically recommend to the county administrator such changes in this section as may be necessary to secure this purpose.

(b)

Inspection fee.

(1)

Where a request has been made for inspection of any open public record that is readily available to the record custodian, there shall be no inspection fee charged to the requester.

(2)

In all cases not covered by subsection (b)(1) of this section, a record inspection fee may be charged. Such charge shall be at the applicable rate set by the county administrator.

(c)

Copying fee.

(1)

A fee per page may be charged for photocopying public records. Such fee shall cover the cost of labor, materials and equipment and shall be set by the county administrator.

(2)

For copying any public records that cannot be reproduced by the unified government's photocopying equipment, the requester shall be charged the actual cost to the unified government, including staff time, in reproducing such records.

(d)

Prepayment of fees.

(1)

A record custodian may demand prepayment of the fees established by this section whenever he believes this to be in the best interest of the unified government. The prepayment amount shall be an estimate of the inspection and/or copying charges accrued in fulfilling the record request. Any overage or underage in the prepayment shall be settled prior to inspection of the requested record or delivery of the requested copies.

(2)

Where prepayment has been demanded by the record custodian, no record shall be made available to the requester until such prepayment has been made.

(e)

Payment. All fees charged under this section shall be rendered to the unified government director of revenue, and checks shall be made payable to such officer. No record for which an assessing and/or copying fee is required shall be made available to the requester until a receipt for such fee is presented to the appropriate record custodian.

(Code 1964, § 2-6.1; Code 1988, § 2-502; Ord. No. 64558, §§ 1—5, 12-15-1983)

State law reference

Fees authorized, K.S.A. 45-218(f), 45-219(c).