Agenda - 05-14-1996 - X-A - Laserfiche WebLink

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L DATA PROCESSING One of the most important matters to be resolved with regard to fees is to update Orange County's fee schedule to reflect the changes to the North Carolina Public Records Law that took effect in October, 1995. The following discussion of public records law review applies to a number of different department's fees (e.g Land Records, GIS, Elections). The 1995 General Assembly adopted legislation designed to make public information more readily accessible to citizen requests for access to, or copies of, that information. The Public Records Law was amended to read that"it is the policy of this State that the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at minimal cost......In view of the recent public records law changes, it is our recommendation that the County's fee schedule for photocopied or electronic records or other automation products be adjusted to reflect this underlying philosophy of providing records at minimal cost. On the other hand,the statute also recognizes that if special programming or extensive use of technology or staff time is required to produce the requested copy or information,that a reasonable special service charge may be imposed. Furthermore, a local government is under no obligation to create records that do not exist, or produce them in a medium not maintained by that local government; but, if the government chooses, as a service to the requester,to create or compile such records, it may negotiate a reasonable charge with the requester. By way of example, a revised fee schedule for copies of existing databases or information reported in existing formats would be provided at the cost of the tape, labels, or printouts with some relatively low minimum fee established. A request for a new report or selected items of data would be provided at cost of materials plus special programming time at$30 per hour, with a minimum$15 charge. Our proposal for 1996- 97 Data Processing charges is based on this approach. AGING The majority of these fees are in the area of transportation. Fees for vehicles and drivers are billed to users based on County established mileage charge back rates and actual driver costs and include an additional amount to cover administrative overhead. No fee adjustments are necessary in this area. Other fee areas such as public shuttle and medical trips are funded in part by transportation grants which limit the amount of fees that can be assessed. We are currently assessing fees at maximum level allowed. Aging program fees ( arts, crafts, etc.) are assessed based upon the cost of the instructor plus a 10 to 15% administrative charge which recovers our costs.