Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 6 - Economic Development › Part 5 - Policies, Procedures and Organization › Chapter 5 - Rules and Regulations for Public Records Requests and Accessing Public Documents › Rule 6-5-5.8 - Costs of providing public records

Current through June 25, 2024
(a)
Costs for paper copies.
Section 25-61-7(1), Miss.
				Code of 1972, reads as follows: "Except as provided in subsection (2) of this
				section, each public body may establish and collect fees reasonably calculated
				to reimburse it for, and in no case to exceed, the actual cost of searching,
				reviewing and/or duplicating and, if applicable, mailing copies of public
				records."
A requester may obtain standard 8 ½" x 11" black and
				  white photocopies for $.25 cents per page and color copies for $.50 cents per
				  page. Copy charges for some specific types of records are set by statute and
				  may exceed the amount stated above. Examples of specific MDA copy charges
				  include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. 8 ½" x 11" $.25 per page
2. 8 ½" x 14" $.35 per page
3. 11" x 17" $.75 per page
4. $15 per hour for basic copies or clerical
				assistance
5. $15-$75 per hour to
				evaluate, research, redact, reproduce based on the pay scale of the lowest
				level employee competent to respond to the request
6. $40 per hour for technical or professional
				assistance
7. $50 per hour for
				automated records search
8. Actual
				costs for legal review, postage, UPS, Federal Express, temporary agency
				personnel, and reproduction at an outside print facility
The MDA charges $.25 per page for a standard black and white
				  photocopy of a record selected by a requester. A statement of the factors and
				  the manner used to determine this charge is available from the public records
				  officer.
Before beginning to make the copies, the requester must
				  pre-pay all reasonably estimated costs of copying all the records selected by
				  the requester.
The public records officer will also require the payment
				  of the remainder of the copying costs before providing all the records in an
				  installment before providing that installment. The MDA will not charge sales
				  tax when it makes copies of public records.
The MDA will notify the requester of the costs to obtain the
				  information prior to processing the request. The requester will be required to
				  reimburse the MDA for reasonable costs sufficient to cover the actual expenses
				  incurred by the MDA to furnish the requested information. Payment must be made
				  in advance of the receipt of documents
.
If the actual cost is
				  higher than the estimate, the requester will be required to pay the difference
				  before receiving the information. If the actual cost is lower than the
				  estimate, the MDA will refund the difference.
Please note that the following types of public records
				  requests usually require additional research and staff time and can have
				  significant costs associated with filling the request:
(1) Requests for very large volumes of
				material
(2) Requests that are too
				broad
(3) Requests that are
				unspecific in scope
(4) Requests for
				information that have already been archived and
(5) Requests for documents that are unusual
				in size.