Actual Cost

There are certain things that can be included when government calculates actual cost for the purpose of charging for making copies of data to respond to a data request. 

Things That Can Be Included

• Cost of media (paper, CD ROMs, DVDs, etc.)
• Mailing costs
• Employee time to prepare copies
• Costs of reproduction that cannot be done by the entity, such as photographs (Advisory Opinions 95-044 and 97-012)
• Employee time to search for and retrieve data for copying (Advisory Opinion 00-054) (Entities cannot charge for search and retrieval time when the requestor is the data subject)

Things That Cannot Be Included

• Employee time to separate public from not public data (Advisory Opinion 04-072)
• Operating expenses of copier, such as electricity, wear and tear, etc. (Advisory Opinions 01-066 and 04-040)
• Costs not related to copying, such as preparing a fax cover sheet, invoice, etc. (Advisory Opinion 04-055)
• Returning data to off-site storage (Advisory Opinion 95-044)
• Sorting, reviewing, or verifying accuracy if not necessary for copying (Advisory Opinion 04-072)
• Sales tax (Advisory Opinions 94-059 and 99-024)
• Accounting functions (Advisory Opinion 04-003)
• Costs related to inspection (Advisory Opinion 04-038)
  
  

Note: Employee time must be calculated based on the wages/salary (may include benefits) of the lowest-paid entity employee who could complete the task (Advisory Opinion 04-056)