Fees.

A. There shall be no fee charged for:(1) Inspection of records;(2) Search for records; or(3) Any certification pursuant to this part.B. Copies may be provided without charging a fee.C. Fees for copies may be charged, provided that:(1) The fee for copying records shall not exceed $0.25 per page for photocopies not exceeding nine inches by 14 inches. This section shall not be construed to mandate the raising of fees where agencies or municipalities in the past have charged less that $0.25 for such copies;(2) The fee for photocopies of records in excess of nine inches by 14 inches shall not exceed the actual cost of reproduction; or(3) An agency has the authority to redact portions of a paper record and does so prior to disclosure of the record by making a photocopy from which the proper redactions are made.D.

The fee an agency may charge for a copy of any other record is based on the actual cost of reproduction and may include only the following:(1) An amount equal to the hourly salary attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to prepare a copy of the requested record, but only when more than two hours of the employee's time is necessary to do so; and(2) The actual cost of the storage devices or media provided to the person making the request in complying with such request; or(3) The actual cost to the agency of engaging an outside professional service to prepare a copy of a record, but only when an agency's information technology equipment is inadequate to prepare a copy, and if such service is used to prepare the copy.E.

When an agency has the ability to retrieve or extract a record or data maintained in a computer storage system with reasonable effort, or when doing so requires less employee time than engaging in manual retrieval or redactions from non-electronic records, the agency shall be required to retrieve or extract such record or data electronically. In such case, the agency may charge a fee in accordance with Subsection D(1) and (2) above.F. An agency shall inform a person requesting a record of the estimated cost of preparing a copy of the record if more than two hours of an agency employee's time is needed, or if it is necessary to retain an outside professional service to prepare a copy of the record.G.

An agency may require that the fee for copying or reproducing a record be paid in advance of the preparation of such copy.H. An agency may waive a fee in whole or in part when making copies of records available.