Judge Cuts Public Records Cost
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February 14th, 2012
Nebraska: When a judge ordered the Otoe County Assessor's office to transfer over computer files to a company that offers public records on its website, he had no idea it would cost him $1,241.00.[1]
County Records is a corporation that operates websites that feature public records from Oklahoma, Arkansas, as well as 17 Nebraska counties. The corporation asked Therese Gruber, the Otoe County Assessor, in August of 2010 for the tax assessment records. In response to this, Gruber said she would charge a dime for each parcel, and with 12,412 active parcels, the total cost amounted to $1,241.00.[1]
County Records asked for a district court ruling, once they found the cost of the records to be too high. County Record's president David Shirley agreed the price was too high, in addition to saying Gruber was not complying with Nebraska's open records law.[1]
Other counties in Nebraska have provided their records for fees of $8.00 to $25.00, and therefore County Records has asked Judge Randall Rehmeier to issue a writ of mandamus, ordering Gruber to transfer over the files for a much more reasonable fee.[1]
Gruber said the information that County Records requested is already available to the public on the county's website, and the Otoe County Attorney, David Partsch, said that the law does not require Gruber's office to produce a public record on a different format. Gruber also added that internet providers, such as CoreLogic, have been paying her 10 cents per parcel.[1]
Judge Randall Rehmeier ruled that County Records had fully described the digital records they were requesting, and that they have the ability to receive the file copies directly from the county's server.[1]
Judge Rehmeier said that Gruber may have figured in the wages and computer maintenance costs to calculate the 10 cents per parcel costs. He also went on to say that basing a fee on "overhead" costs is not proper, and that the fee should be based "on the actual cost of making the copy available."[1]
Judge Rehmeier has ordered the county to hand over the records at a reasonable price, in addition to having to pay $93.00 in court costs. Gruber said the county is now in process of loading a hard drive with the records information and will be delivering the hard drive to the company for a fee of $20.00.[1]
See also
Footnotes
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Nebraska • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Nebraska
State courts:
Nebraska Supreme Court • Nebraska Court of Appeals • Nebraska District Courts • Nebraska County Courts • Nebraska Separate Juvenile Courts • Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court • Nebraska Problem-Solving Courts
State resources:
Courts in Nebraska • Nebraska judicial elections • Judicial selection in Nebraska
