[Adopted 12-15-2004 by Ord. No. DR-177]
New Jersey has adopted the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A.
47:1A-5, which has as its general purpose making government records
more available to the public than they have been in the past. In certain
instances, the production of voluminous records, archived records,
or records in a format which is not the usual format maintained by
the municipality or other special circumstances would be costly and
time consuming. The New Jersey Open Public Records Act permits the
municipality to require the payment of fees, special service charges
and/or special charges as a prerequisite to the production of records
requiring extraordinary time and effort, special equipment or special
formatting.
The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests under
the Open Public Records Act. The fees of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 are hereby
incorporated herein as such fees schedule presently exists or as such
fees might appear in future modifications or amendments of the statute.
At present time, fees under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 for routine copies
of municipal documents are:
Pages 1 through 10
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$0.75 per page
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Pages 11 through 20
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$0.50 per page
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All pages after 20
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$0.25 per page
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If fees for particular documents are set by statute to be amounts
other than those set forth here, those fees shall apply.
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The establishment of the position of deputy custodians of documents
are as follows:
Nothing in this section shall require the custodian or deputy
custodians of documents or any other municipal official to examine,
analyze, tabulate, or interpret documents which are subject to production
under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.
A.
Charges authorized. The City Clerk or deputy custodian of documents
qualifying for mandatory production as governmental records under
the New Jersey Open Public Records Act shall be entitled to special
service charges and/or special charges as set forth in this section.
B.
Requests to be in writing. Any requests for documents shall be made
to the City Clerk in writing and preferably on a form established
by the City Clerk for such purposes.
C.
Advance notice of fees, special service charges and special charges;
deposit. Any requester of government records which may be eligible
for the imposition of a fee, special charge or special service charge
under this section shall receive advance notice of the amount of fees
and charges before any work is started. The City Clerk shall require
prepayment of such charges before causing the work to begin.
A.
Duplication or other work beyond capability of municipal-in-house
work force. Whenever the in-house municipal work force or available
municipal equipment is insufficient to duplicate or produce government
records in a timely fashion, the City Clerk may cause such duplication
or production to be accomplished by outside vendors such as copy centers
or producers of digital images. If the costs of such duplication or
production charged by such vendors exceeds the routine charges set
forth in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, the actual direct cost of same without
any additional surcharge for labor costs shall be paid.
B.
Special service charged authorized. Whenever government records cannot
be reproduced by regular copying equipment or fulfillment of the request
would involve extraordinary time and effort (for example, where a
large number of records must be recovered from storage or substantive
staff time is required to review, redact, sort and/or assemble records),
charges may be imposed as follows:
C.
Rates for in-house production of prints or blueprints. Any prints
or blueprints produced in-house in response to a governmental records
request shall be produced for $28 per page.
D.
Digital records. If a request for governmental records involves production
or conversion of digital or computerized records or film which is:
A.
The City of Hoboken may be compelled by New Jersey Law to produce
or duplicate governmental records but no compliance with these legal
obligations shall be deemed to constitute a license, sublicense or
waiver of copyright laws.
B.
The City Clerk shall give the following notice to any requester of
governmental records.
NOTICE — COPYRIGHT LAWS
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You must comply with U.S. copyright laws. These laws may restrict
your right to use, duplicate or modify the records provided to you
by the City of Hoboken. You should consult your own legal counsel
on this since severe civil and criminal penalties for violation of
copyright laws are provided.
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The Mayor, Clerk or City Council (by resolution) may waive the
fees or other charges otherwise chargeable if the requestor of governmental
records is a governmental or educational entity.