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> We won’t be paying the $750 because according to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, if the cost to fulfill the request exceeds $30, the requester must be notifi

> We won’t be paying the $750 because according to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, if the cost to fulfill the request exceeds $30, the requester must be notified in advance. In the US, when you ask a government for documents, they can charge you a fee determined by formulas in various laws, usually $x per researcher hour, to track down said document and send it to you. If the estimated cost exceeds $y, they have to ask your permission first. $750 sounds wildly unreasonable for a PDF that I'm sure every administrative employee in this small town already had in their inbox, but then I'm not familiar with the Maine law. The title should be: "We made a FOIA-like request and the town made a bureaucratic error wrt billing", but that generates fewer clicks.

danso 9y ago
The law is different for every state and for the federal government. Fees are allowed for requests, but they can be challenged if exorbitant. Which is what requesters do, and which is why governments aren't nickel-and-diming you for every type of request, nor do they automatically resort to a large fee as a deterrent. The Maine law states this: > A person may inspect or copy any public record in the office of the agency or official during reasonable office hours. The agency or official shall mail the copy upon request. The agency may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of making the copies for you, as well as actual mailing costs. 1 M.R.S. § 408-A(1), (2), (8)(E) http://www.maine.gov/foaa/faq/ http://www.maine.gov/foaa/faq/ States have even less defense if there is no print out or delivery cost on their end. In any case, your criticism about the headline is unwarranted. The article clearly states the issue: that the government is not allowed to assess a fee before fulfilling the request. The content of the agency's reply does not suggest a "bureaucratic error". They explicitly state their reasoning and the conditions of assessing the fee. This would indicate willful action on their part to deter their responsibility to the law, so the headline accurately sums up the situation. And the OP also links to their research on the Maine law that finds the fee to be $15/hour: https://www.muckrock.com/place/united-states-of-america/maine/ https://www.muckrock.com/place/united-states-of-america/main... edit: * Maine; added reference to the content of the response

danso 9y ago

The law is different for every state and for the federal government. Fees are allowed for requests, but they can be challenged if exorbitant. Which is what requesters do, and which is why governments aren't nickel-and-diming you for every type of request, nor do they automatically resort to a large fee as a deterrent. The Maine law states this: > A person may inspect or copy any public record in the office of the agency or official during reasonable office hours. The agency or official shall mail the copy upon request. The agency may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of making the copies for you, as well as actual mailing costs. 1 M.R.S. § 408-A(1), (2), (8)(E) http://www.maine.gov/foaa/faq/ http://www.maine.gov/foaa/faq/ States have even less defense if there is no print out or delivery cost on their end. In any case, your criticism about the headline is unwarranted. The article clearly states the issue: that the government is not allowed to assess a fee before fulfilling the request. The content of the agency's reply does not suggest a "bureaucratic error". They explicitly state their reasoning and the conditions of assessing the fee. This would indicate willful action on their part to deter their responsibility to the law, so the headline accurately sums up the situation. And the OP also links to their research on the Maine law that finds the fee to be $15/hour: https://www.muckrock.com/place/united-states-of-america/maine/ https://www.muckrock.com/place/united-states-of-america/main... edit: * Maine; added reference to the content of the response