Some of these politicians should be fired (how much, attorney)

[anna_mom]

NJ town pays $17K to defend $5 fee - NorthJersey.com

BRIDGEWATER — A New Jersey town spent more than $17,000 defending a $5 fee it charged a resident for a compact disc of a council meeting.
Tom Coulter filed a complaint with the New Jersey Government Record Council in October 2008, saying he should pay the actual cost of the CD to get the recording.
The state council this year sided with Coulter and found he should have paid about 96 cents.
Bridgewater paid more than $14,000 in legal fees defending the case. It had to pay $3,500 to Coulter for his legal fees and give him a $4.04 refund.
Coulter says the case shows a lack of common sense.
Township Attorney Alan Grant tells The Courier News of Bridgewater the legal fees would have been substantially lower had Coulter settled, as the township had offered.

[joeymarine]

Originally Posted by anna_mom

Township Attorney Alan Grant tells The Courier News of Bridgewater the legal fees would have been substantially lower had Coulter settled, as the township had offered.

I love how he blames Coulter for not settling....Maybe had the township followed the law there wouldn't have been legal fees in the first place. Try telling a township judge you can't afford the fine they gave you....they'll tell you that you shouldn't have broken the rule in the first place.

[CaptainNJ]

the reason why this cost so much money was not a lack of common sense. its because government employees were getting paid.

[IanErikson]

Better to be right than fiscally responsible.

[marc515]

What does this mean for copies of birth certificates, etc, where a piece of paper costs about .02

[anna_mom]

I think he went through Open Public Record Search (OPRA) request. The guideline, I think, for paper is $0.05 per page.
I looked into this myself, because when I asked for the district's curriculum, the district asked me to fill out an OPRA request and ask for $0.05 a page. I estimated the total would have been $100. Ridiculous, isn't it? After doing some homework, I found out I could ask for the CD and pay for the cost of a CD.
I have to agree because they are government (town) employees and have nothing better to do. They want to show they have power and control.

[PDD]

I guess we moved out just in time, I wonder how much that's going to add to the tax bill?

[rscalzo]

Who do you think pays for the cost of the research and duplication costs? The taxpayers. When the clerks have to research, retrieve and copy copies of the documents, taxpayer pay for this service. Anyone who thinks they have nothing to do has no idea what they are talking about. The requirements of Federal, State and Local agencies are more than a few.

I estimated the total would have been $100

So you requested documents that would total 2000 pages. What do you think the costs to duplicate such a document would be? Ever price the cost of toners and ink cartridges? Handling that much paper and retrieving the originals cost time by the staff. I really have to laugh when some comment that it's all in the computers. sure and all that data enters itself.

This is no more than another instance where a pain in the a$S wants someone else to foot the bill and no one's time but their own is worth anything.

[O-er in WO]

Originally Posted by anna_mom

[Bridgewater paid more than $14,000 in legal fees defending the case. It had to pay $3,500 to Coulter for his legal fees and give him a $4.04 refund.

Can someone tell me how this is not a stealing from taxpayers? I hope this gets investigated.

[anna_mom]

Originally Posted by rscalzo

So you requested documents that would total 2000 pages. What do you think the costs to duplicate such a document would be? Ever price the cost of toners and ink cartridges? Handling that much paper and retrieving the originals cost time by the staff. I really have to laugh when some comment that it's all in the computers. sure and all that data enters itself.

.

The district's curriculum should be available on the district web site, for god's sake, we are in the 21st century. This is the curriculum for my kid, why am I not supposed to know? Why do I have to jump through hoops to get or to see them? I even offered to first read it then scan the relevant pages with my own hand-held scanner, she agreed that I could see it (after my OPRA request), but perferred to copy for me. If it were available on the district web site as it did in many districts, why can't it be available on my own district's web site? It is not a trade secret and if they require OPRA request for people to read it, anyone can access it.

Those people already got paid when they developed the curriculum, in fact, one question I asked them was whether they typed it using a typewriter.