HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7937 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7937
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To the Mayor and Members of the City Council July 24, 1995
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1873 CHARGES FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION
The City of Fort Worth has revised its fee schedule of charges for public information requested. As required
by the Open Records Act, this revised schedule is in keeping with guidelines for such charges developed by
the State General Services Commission. The revised schedule provides a system of uniform charges, which
enhances the public's understanding of how costs for public information have been calculated.
Charges for public information are designed to match the actual cost of providing the information and are based
on the amount of information that is requested and whether or not the information is readily available. The
General Services Commission defines "readily available information" as information that already exists in
printed form, or information that is stored electronically and is ready to be printed or copied without requiring
any programming,or information that already exists on microfiche or microfilm. The Commission defines "not
readily available information" as information that requires a substantial amount of time to locate or prepare.
The City of Fort Worth defines a "substantial amount of time" as a period of 30 minutes or more to take
requests, locate documents, and reproduce requested information. Below is a brief explanation of the types of
charges that may be assessed based on where a request falls within the categories defined. Actual charges are
listed on the fee schedule attached.
Category I -Readily available information (50 pages or fewer in standard size copies). Maximum rate is
$.10 a copy, or the cost of a diskette or other nonstandard copy that contains the requested information.
Postage and shipping may be charged. (Note: If materials are located in more than one building or in a remote
tr/ storage facility, charges listed in Category 2 below may also be assessed)
Category 2 - Readily available information (more than 50 pages in standard size copies). Same charges
as in Category 1, if applicable. In addition, a personnel charge may be assessed. The uniform charge for
personnel costs incurred in processing a request is$15.00 an hour, which is the average hourly cost, including
fringe benefits, to the State for classified employees as of May 1993. If a personnel charge is assessed, an
overhead charge may also be assessed, which includes direct and indirect costs. The uniform overhead charge
is 20 percent of any charge made to cover personnel costs associated with a request. (One hour of personnel
time = $15.00 + overhead charge of$3.00.) A document retrieval charge may be assessed to recover the
cost of retrieving information from an off-site storage center.
Category 3- Information that is not readily available (Information requiring more than 30 minutes to
locate and reproduce, or information stored electronically that is not ready to be printed or copied
without requiring some programming or manipulation). Same charges in Category 2, if applicable. In
addition, a programming time charge may be assessed, if applicable. This charge is for the time required for
a programmer to enter data in order to execute an existing program or to create a new program so that
requested information may be accessed. The uniform charge is $26.00 an hour, including fringe benefits,
which is currently the average hourly salary of a programmer for the State of Texas. A computer resource
charge, if applicable, may also be assessed. This is a utilization charge that represents the actual time the
computer takes to execute a particular program times the rate charge (See rates listed on fee schedule). The
time required for this process is generally only a few seconds. As an example, the computer resource charge
for a request that takes 20 seconds to execute on a mainframe system would be $5.83.
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Additional information can be supplied regarding charges for public information, if needed" ,'t,
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Bob Terrell
City Manager
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ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
FEE SCHEDULE
CHARGES FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION
Services Rendered Charge
Standard-size paper copy $ .10 per page
(2) Nonstandard-size copy
(A) Diskette $ 1.00 each
(B) Magnetic tape $10.00 each
(C) CD-ROM $22.00 each
(D) VHS video cassette $ 2.50 each
(E) Audio cassette $ 1.00 each
(F) Fiche or film Actual Cost
(G) GIS map (24 x 36 inches) $ 2.00 each
(H) Paper copy (larger than 8-1/2 x 14 inches) $ .20 each
(I) Other Actual cost
(3) Personnel charge $15.00 per hour
(4) Overhead charge 20% of personriel charge
(5) Remote document retrieval charge Actual cost
(6) Computer resource charge
(A) Mainframe $17.50 per minute
(B) Midsize $ 3.00 per minute
(C) Client/Server $ 1.00 per minute
(D) PC or LAN $ .50 per minute
(7) Programming time charge $26.00 per hour
(8) Miscellaneous supplies Actual cost
(9), Postage and shipping charge Actual cost
(10) Fax charge
(A) local $ .10 per page
(B) long distance, same area code $ .50 per page
(C) long distance, different area code $ 1.00 per page
(1 1) Other costs Actual cost
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