Public records management is growing more complex each year. Requests for public records continue to grow in number as well as complexity, posing increasing challenges for governments to efficiently process and manage. These challenges are consuming resources that could be given to other essential projects.

Kaysville City staff recently realized that the fees charged for police reports and other documents were seriously undervalued and significantly lower than other jurisdictions. The city requested the need to update and clarify the fees for records requests to cover the cost to the city for administration and overhead. The proposed changes aim to reflect the true costs of fulfilling these requests and introduce separate fees for reports, photos, and videos; allowing requesters to choose only what they need. 

The fee schedule included an increase from $5 to $10 for a Police Incident Report; it added new fees for requests for photos ($15 per case); and $50 per recording for audio or video recordings (e.g., dash cam, body cam or other recordings). Also, if the records request requires longer than 30 minutes to research and prepare copies, the city may charge the hourly wage of the lowest paid employee who, in the discretion of the custodian of records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the request. This shall be billed in quarter hour increments. In the sole discretion of the records officer, costs, and expected costs, may have to be paid in full prior to starting record request fulfillment.

Cities such as Layton, Farmington, Bountiful, and Clearfield also charge similar fees to provide records to the public. Layton charges $10 per Police Incident Report while charging $30 for audio recordings. They also include a research, compilation and editing fee of $30 per hour (with a one hour minimum). North Salt Lake charges $15 for a Police report but notes it can be more if it is a bigger report (fee is based on length of report and redaction). Bountiful charges $10 per police incident report, Farmington $15, and Clearfield $16. In North Salt Lake, the cost for body cam videos is the cost of the lowest employee that can review the video (beginning at $20). Bountiful charges $50 for body cam video, Farmington $30, Clearfield charges for the report ($16) plus body cam plus $75 per hour for video redaction. Photos in North Salt Lake depend on the case but start at $15. 

Government entities are having to scramble and be creative to fulfill public records requests and still conduct their day-to-day tasks. The City Council adopted a fee schedule amendment to update certain fees to better recover the cost that the city bears when fulfilling these requests.