2383-13 Ordinance Amending Chp. 2, Section 66.1a Fees for Services.pdf

3 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY Currently, Section 66.1a of Chapter 2 of the Revised General Ordinances of the Township of West Orange provides for the following fees for public records: (1) $0.75 per page for the first page to the tenth page; (2) $0.50 per page for the eleventh page to the twentieth page; and (3) $0.25 per page for all pages over twenty. These fees are derived from N.J.S.A. 47:1A-2, which is a since-repealed provision of the former Right to Know Law (“RKL”), which was part of the Public Records Act of 1963. The RKL was displaced by the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13 (OPRA), in January 2000. See generally Smith v. Hudson County Register, 411 N.J. Super. 538, 558 (App. Div. 2010). The provision of OPRA applicable to fees for public records is N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5b, and it provides for the following fees: (1) $0.05 per letter size page or smaller, and (2) $0.07 per legal size page or larger. This Ordinance brings Section 66.1a of Chapter 2 into compliance with OPRA. In addition, the second paragraph of Section 2-66.1b currently provides that “for a police accident report there is an additional fee when the request is not made in person of $5.00 for the first three (3) pages and $1.00 for each additional page as provided by N.J.S.A. 39:4-131.” The referenced provision of the State Motor Vehicle Regulations was amended in September 2010, and the provision permitting an additional $1.00/page charge after three (3) pages was removed. The additional charge for requests not made in person is now capped at $5.00. N.J.S.A. 39:4-131. This Ordinance therefore brings Section 66.1a of Chapter 2 into compliance with the State Motor Vehicle Regulations as well.