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Township of Old Bridge, NJ
Middlesex County
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[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge 1-13-2003 by Ord. No. 02-03. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 160.
Maps and photographs — See Ch. 277.
New Jersey has adopted the Open Public Records Law 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 archived 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 Public Records Law 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.
A. 
The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests under the Open Public Records Law. The fees of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 are hereby incorporated herein as such fee schedule presently exists or as such fees might appear in future modifications or amendments of the statute.
B. 
Fees for routine copies of municipal documents shall be $0.05 per letter-size page or smaller and $0.07 per legal-size page or larger.
[Amended 10-25-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-30]
Nothing in this chapter shall require the custodian 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 Township Clerk or other custodian or keeper of documents qualifying for mandatory production as "governmental records" under the New Jersey Public Records Act shall be entitled to special service charges and/or special charges as set forth in § 380-5 of this chapter.
B. 
Requests to be in writing. Any requests for documents shall be made to the Township Clerk on a form established by the Township Clerk for such purposes.
C. 
Advance notice of fees, special service charges and special charges; deposit. Any requester of government records which are eligible for the imposition of a special charge or special service charge under § 380-5 of this chapter shall receive advance notice of the amount of fees and charges before any work is started. The Township 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 Township 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 charges 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, sort and assemble records), charges may be imposed as follows:
(1) 
The actual cost (materials and supplies but no staff labor) of duplication or reproduction; plus
(2) 
A special service charge of $32 per hour or the actual direct cost of labor (if less) shall be imposed for each hour of extraordinary time predicted to be utilized to respond to the request.
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. 
Cost of GIS data. The cost of any GIS data owned by the Township of Old Bridge shall be as follows:
Topographic Price List
Based on 100 Scale
8 1/2 x 11
Xerox =
21 acres
$252
8 1/2 x 14
Xerox =
27 acres
$324
11 x 17
Xerox =
43 acres
$516
15 x 20
Xerox =
69 acres (1/2 sheet)
$714
20 x 30
Xerox =
138 acres (1 full sheet)
$1,090
E. 
Digital records.
(1) 
If a request for governmental records involves production or conversion of digital or computerized records or film which is:
(a) 
In a medium not routinely used by the agency (i.e., electronic or film);
(b) 
Not routinely developed or maintained by an agency; or
(c) 
Requiring a substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology.
(2) 
The requester shall pay fees and special charges as follows:
(a) 
Direct costs (no overhead) to comply with the request; plus
(b) 
Special charges; the lesser of the cost of technology and labor actually incurred or $45 per hour.
A. 
The Township of Old Bridge 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 Township Clerk shall give the following notice to any requester of governmental records.
Notice — Copyright Laws
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 Township of Old Bridge. You should consult your own legal counsel on this since severe civil and criminal penalties for violation of copyright laws are provided.
The Mayor, Clerk or Township Council (by resolution) may waive the fees or other charges otherwise chargeable if the requester of governmental records is a governmental or educational entity.