Opinion
Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that the Henry County Fiscal Court subverted the intent of the Open Records Act, short of denial of inspection, in imposing a $ .25 per page copying charge for records produced in response to Hugh McBurney's 1 April 19, 2005, requests for "the packet containing all documents received by each magistrate at the Henry County Fiscal Court meeting of April 19, 2005" and "documents of all expenditures of Henry County and its Fiscal Court relating to Ordinance No. 03-12-16 and to the nonexclusive dumpster franchise agreement relating to calendar year 2004." It is the decision of this office that 05-ORD-070 and 01-ORD-136, copies of which are attached hereto and incorporated by reference, are dispositive of this issue. Unless the Henry County Fiscal Court can substantiate that its actual copying costs exceed ten cents per page, it must recalculate its copying fee to conform to the requirements found at KRS 61.874(3) as construed in 05-ORD-070 and 01-ORD-136 and the authorities cited therein.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
William P. SturmSuite 150, PMB 1353735 Palomar Centre DriveLexington, KY 40513
John Logan BrentHenry County Judge/ExecutiveP.O. Box 202New Castle, KY 40050
Virginia Lee HarrodHenry County AttorneyP.O. Box 128New Castle, KY 40050
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 Mr. Sturm is an attorney representing Mr. McBurney in this matter.
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