Will I have to pay for the records?

The County may charge for any requested records. The County is permitted to charge only for the actual costs of responding to your request. You may request that the County tells you in advance what the anticipated costs will be for supplying the records. If the estimated costs exceed $200, you may be required to pay before processing your request. Additionally, if you owe the County money from a previous request that has remained unpaid for more than 30 days, the County will require you to pay the past-due bill before processing any subsequent records requests.

A public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying or searching for the requested records. No public body shall impose any extraneous, intermediary or surplus fees or expenses to recoup the general costs associated with creating or maintaining public records or transacting the general business of the public body. Any duplicating fee charged by a public body shall not exceed the actual cost of duplication. All charges for the supplying of requested records shall be estimated in advance at the request of the citizen as set forth in subsection F of § 2.2-3704 of the Code of Virginia.

  • Staff time, $22 per hour
  • CD-ROM/DVD, $1 per disc
  • Copies, $0.15 per page
  • Postage, varies

Effective July 1, 2022 - Per Code of VA 2.2-3704 (F), public bodies are required to inform requesters that the public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed the actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying or searching for requested records, and shall ask the requester whether they wish to receive a cost estimate in advance of supplying the requested records.  A cost estimate shall be provided if requested.  If, after receiving the cost estimate, the requester would like the County to proceed with the records request, the staff time required to determine the cost estimate will be applied to the final amount due.  If the requester does not respond to the County’s question within 30 days, the request will be deemed withdrawn. 

Other charges besides those listed may be applicable, including storage retrieval, professional printing, microfilm, printing, etc.

Show All Answers

1. What records are available to the public?
2. How do I request a public record?
3. What information do I need to provide to make a public records request?
4. When can I expect my request to be processed?
5. How will I receive the records I request?
6. Will I have to pay for the records?
7. When can a request be denied?
8. Who is the County's FOIA Officer?
9. Where can I find more information about FOIA?
10. How do I request public records from Constitutional Officers?