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The Cost of Sunshine – 2018 Audit

The Cost of Sunshine: 2018 Audit


<a href="https://wuft.org/news" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;WUFT News&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://wuft.org/news&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">WUFT News</a> <b>| April 16, 2018</b> By <a href="https://twitter.com/BrizAndrew" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Andrew Briz&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/BrizAndrew&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0002&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0003&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Andrew Briz</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ebaueri" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Ethan Bauer&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/ebaueri&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0004&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0005&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Ethan Bauer</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ceostroff" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Caitlin Ostroff&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/ceostroff&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0006&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0007&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Caitlin Ostroff</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexalLorenzo" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Alexa Lorenzo&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/AlexalLorenzo&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0008&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb0009&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Alexa Lorenzo</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/gabriellecalise" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Gabrielle Calise&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/gabriellecalise&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb000a&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb000b&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Gabrielle Calise</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/zuckerco" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Ryan Serpico&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/zuckerco&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb000c&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000018b-8bbe-d33b-ab8b-fffe05cb000d&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Ryan Serpico</a>

Would you want to know if your local school has a mold problem? Or if your new neighbor from the other side of Florida has a criminal record? Or if your city’s police department is following protocol during traffic stops?

In Florida, you can answer all those questions thanks to chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, officially known as the Florida Public Records Act, which allows anyone to inspect any documents produced by any government office in the state at a reasonable cost. But the law in practice isn’t as simple as it sounds.

WUFT News reported on this issue last year in Sunshine Lost, an investigation into compliance with the state’s public records law in all 20 Florida district state attorney’s offices. Among the findings were a lack of proper record keeping, inconsistent pricing and missing points of contact for people trying to make requests. With help from Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Knight Foundation, WUFT News expanded that reporting this year to include constitutional offices — tax collectors, sheriff’s offices, etc. — in nine counties across Florida, plus six state agencies.

We’ve got this great law, but no means to enforce it other than through the courts.

While Florida is revered for its open public records laws, the state does not have an effective enforcement mechanism. If your public records request about your daughter’s moldy school isn’t being addressed quickly, there’s nobody to complain to. The agencies are in charge of policing themselves.

Your only option would be to sue the agency.

“We’re really stuck,” said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. “We’ve got this great law, but no means to enforce it other than through the courts.”

This isn’t just on a case-by-case basis either. Aside from having no official appeals process, the state also doesn’t exercise any oversight of its agencies. That means no one is keeping track of what agencies are charging for completing requests.

WUFT’s goal with this project was to perform that task in place of the state – to audit a sampling of agencies to see how Florida’s public records laws perform when left in the dark.

“The purpose is to get a snapshot of what’s going on around the state,” Petersen said. “We can then provide it for our lawmakers in the hopes that they will see the problems.” In the hopes, Petersen added, that new legislation will result.

Methodology

WUFT News chose nine counties and six state agencies for the audit based on geographic and population diversity. Requests were sent to all county constitutional officers in nine Florida counties as well as the city clerk for the county seat. County constitutional officers include the state attorney; sheriff; clerk of court; tax collector; property appraiser; supervisor of elections; public defender; and school superintendent. Six state agencies — the Executive Office of the Governor, the Attorney General, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of Financial Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Veterans Affairs — also received the same public record requests.

The goal was to determine the number of requests received by each entity, the cost quoted to fulfill each request and the actual amount paid for the records. We also asked for copies of each agency’s public records access policy. The constitutional agencies that weren’t audited received a survey designed to obtain the same information. The survey asked for records from a two-year range (January 2015 through December 2016) while the audit requested records from one year (January 2016 through December 2016).

The voluntary survey sent to constitutional agencies not audited.

We used an email template when making our requests to ensure consistency. We sent the requests to the email addresses listed for the public records custodians on each agency’s website. If the custodian’s contact information was not available, or if a web portal was offered as an alternative, then we called the office to request the appropriate email address. The agencies usually acknowledged our requests within an hour. Responses varied following the acknowledgement. Sometimes an office asked for clarification, other times it sent the requested records.

The records we received were packaged in many ways. Some were sent in a neat Microsoft Excel file, while others formed paper skyscrapers in a cardboard bin. Some came in a format that required specialized software be purchased and installed before the records could be examined. There were times when agencies were contacted because of apparent data errors. Once we cleared those hurdles, the team logged the appropriate information in a collaborative spreadsheet. The team calculated its findings using that data.

Findings

90%

The amount of records processed by an agency without a fee payed  

$102

The average fee paid, of those with one, for a public records request  

Public record requests are made almost daily to Florida's 600-plus constitutional agencies. While the exact number is unknown, our audit found the median agency received 27 requests in 2016. However, the amount ranged from 5,693 requests for one agency (The Charlotte County Sheriff) to zero for others.

(Figure 1) Not all types of agencies received the same volume of requests.

About 33 percent of respondents overall said their agency received between one and 50 requests in the two-year period of 2015 and 2016. Another 33 percent said they received over 250. As you can see in Figure 1, regardless of county, most of the requests were made to the sheriff's office and state attorneys, which was consistent with the audit.

The main finding of the audit showed a vast majority of the public records requests processed by the agencies we audited were done so for free – 90 percent of them. Of the 10 percent that did have an associated cost, the average fee was $102 across all the agencies. Rooted in this average is a wide range of values that are corroborated by the results of the voluntary survey. Figure 2 shows the breakdown of average fee ranges for both sets of data, and also highlights an interesting contrast: our audit found a much higher rate of free records (18 percent vs 5 percent in the survey) while also finding a much lower rate of fees under $10 (3 percent vs 52 percent in the survey).

(Figure 2) The audit found many more agencies processing requests for free than agencies said on the survey.

There are a few explanations for this discrepancy, the most likely of which is a misunderstanding of what constitutes a public record on the part of the survey respondents. For example voter rolls (which was by far the most requested record from a Supervisor of Elections office) were often given out in high volumes for free. Some respondents might think a request like that does not constitute enough effort to be deemed a "public records request," but our audit did.

Lack of Record Keeping

Another key finding illustrates a lack of comprehensive record keeping across agencies. Figure 1 shows that 22 percent of survey respondents — those who voluntarily took our survey — did not or could not provide an estimate of the amount of public records requests their agency acquired in the two year period of 2015 – 2016. Further, Figure 2 shows about a third of agencies (whether they were audited or took the survey) could not provide data on the amount of money their agency collected in fees in the past year.

Deputy Tax Collector for Collier County Rob Stoneburner said the agency did not keep records of the cost charged for each request. When pressed, he said he doesn’t see why it’s necessary to collect that information. “I don’t know what the point really is as far as to see the $1 to $3.80 for public records that we would report,” he said.

Inconsistent Pricing

The audit also found evidence of organizations engaging in a practice of charging for a high percentage of fees, while maintaining a low average cost for those records.

For example, when analyzing the seven Supervisor of Elections offices whose data were available, one county stood out: the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections office collected more money than any of the other six counties – adjusting for the population of their counties (Figure 3).

(Figure 3 & 4) Despite most records only costing $5 – $10, Alachua County collected significantly more money in fees than other counties (adjusting for population). Some counties didn’t collect any money in 2016.

(Figure 5 & 6) Even though Alachua County didn't receive the most requests, they charged for a much higher percentage of them.

The agency did not have a particularly high volume of requests (Figure 5), nor requests with large associated fees (Figure 4). It did, however, charge for 75 percent of all the requests made to the office in 2016 – double the rate of other counties’ Supervisor of Elections (Figure 6).

Alachua County Deputy Supervisor of Elections Will Boyett said a major source of this revenue was from charging small fees for the same kinds of records other counties gave out for free. Boyett said the office began to review the policies for these small fees in 2017 in an effort to bring the county more in line with other agencies. "As an example, if a member of the public were to call in and want a list of registered Asian American voters who had voted in three out of six of the last general elections, under the prior administration that would have been most likely a $5 charge – under the new administration we'd provide that record at no charge," he said.

According to Boyett, a key reason the office is making these changes is to improve the experience for the average Alachua County resident. He said the amount of the fees was often not the true barrier to access – instead it was the hassle of having to make multiple trips to the office. "If they arrived at the office unprepared, they might have to come back a second time to make payment and then a third time to get the record...whereas now if we don't charge for it we can simply produce the record and deliver it often on that one visit," he said.

Boyett said the loss in revenue is small and "well worth it for that increased responsiveness to the public," which will make the residents of Alachua County "feel like engaging with the voting process."

The practice of inconsistent pricing is not unique to the Alachua County of Supervisor of Elections, nor are the high volume of low-cost fees in general. This audit also found evidence of a low volume of high cost fees leading to a massive discrepancy in revenue at the Charlotte County Property Appraiser's office compared to other property appraisers. The office collected over $800 per 100,000 people in the county from only 28 requests (Figure 7).

The office charged $50 for every request.

Other property appraisers that charged for a similar percentage of records collected much less money for them. The Polk County Property Appraiser (which serves a population nearly four times the size of Charlotte County) collected just over $250 per 100,000 people with a total of 156 requests. The average fee in that office was only $10.

(Figure 7) The Charlotte County Property Appraiser collected the most money in fees of any of the agencies audited.

When asked why the office acquired so much revenue from public records, Charlotte County Property Appraiser Paul Polk said his office charges what the labor to produce the records costs. According to the office's policy, the "minimum programming time" (i.e. the time it takes to find and collect the records) is half an hour (at a rate of $20/hour). The "minimum processing time" (i.e. the time it takes to fill out paperwork, collect fees, and other clerical work) is one hour (at a rate of $40/hour). Together that comes out to a $50 minimum fee, but the office uses it as the base fee for all its records requests. Whether a requestor is looking for a specific dataset (such as "list of all commercial and industrial vacant and improved property owners") or just looking for a copy of the entire database, both sets cost $50. Polk said that's because both take the same amount of time. In fact, he pointed out that the actual salaries of those employees are $45 (for processing time) and $55 (for programming time), which would bring the minimum payment up to $72.50.

Polk County collected much less revenue from public records fees per 100,000 people. Public Records Administrator Carol Walker said their site's advanced query search is the reason for that. With it, you can find the records for the hyper specific searches online for free – the same kinds of searches that make up the bulk of Charlotte County's $50 requests.

Walker also said that Polk County's master file (a set of files containing every public property record often requested by data companies) is updated and put online every day by a computer script. In 2016, Charlotte County charged $50 to every company that requested it for the labor costs of creating an up-to-date file.

Both practices — agencies charging high fees for a certain level of work or low fees for every request — stem from the interpretation of a particular part of Florida public records law. The law allows for agencies to charge a service charge for the "extensive use of information technology resources" and for the labor costs of providing the record (s. 119.07(4)(d), F.S.). The only restriction the law puts on this special service charge is that it be "reasonable" and be a cost "actually incurred by the agency."

Boyett said the small fees were based on a strict interpretation of that clause – an interpretation the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections is no longer holding as they review their fee policies. Polk, the Charlotte Property Appraiser, also cited this law as the legal basis for the fees.

Availability of Public Records Custodians

Another finding in our survey, which is corroborated by the anecdotal experience of our auditors, is the lack of contact information available online for the custodian of an agency's public records. Florida law defines a public records custodian as "the elected or appointed state, county, or municipal officer charged with the responsibility of maintaining the office having public records, or his or her designee" (s. 119.011(5), F.S.). When asked if the agency had a designated public records custodian, 10 percent of survey respondents said they did not.

(Figure 8) Only the contact information of 60% of public records request (PRR) custodians was available online.

When asked about the availability of this information online, another 10 percent of survey respondents said they did not have the custodian's contact information on their website. And 20 percent of respondents said they did have the information online, but independent auditors did not find it.

The lack of this information online is not only a burden for residents of the county — it also has legal consequences. The addition of language to the attorney's fees provision of Florida Public Records Act in 2017 provided some protection for the agencies from the practice of predatory public records requests, in which litigators will submit public records request with the express intent to sue the agency and settle out of court when the request can't be completed in a short amount of time (read more about this practice here). The new protections require complainants to provide a written notice to the agency five days before filing a civil action.

However, these protections do not apply "if the agency does not prominently post the contact information for the agency’s custodian of public records...on the agency’s website, if the agency has a website" (s. 119.12(2), F.S.). President of the First Amendment Foundation Barbara Peterson said that once the changes took place in 2017, she "thought everybody would be running out, putting the names up there, but they haven't."

Discussion

This report highlights the cost of public records in Florida as well as some of the problems stemming from the lack of proper data on the topic. We believe these gaps are side effects of one key problem: Florida's public records systems are in need of digital modernization.

If agencies tracked public records requests digitally, then records about those requests could be produced and analyzed quickly. If the data associated with public records requests (e.g. when the request was made, how much did it cost, etc.) were digitized and collected in a standard format, further studies could be done to analyze best practices for record keeping, such as how much the average record of a certain kind costs. Such changes would require a large amount of coordination in a normally decentralized system, though, which could block them all together. However, just because the ideal would be difficult to implement does not mean that incremental steps toward digitization shouldn't be attempted. Simply having a digital record (e.g. a log file of some kind) which includes fees is a simple step that some agencies are already undertaking.

The public records law itself is also in need of modernization for the digital age. Section 119.07(4) of the Florida Statutes outlines the appropriate fees agencies can charge to process a public records request. These fees are very specific when it comes to analog forms of public records. For example, Florida law dictates that printed copies cost "up to 15 cents per one-sided copy" as well as "no more than an additional 5 cents for each two-sided copy." However, many requests are not for individual documents, but for data, which must be collected from a database. The costs for these collections range from agency to agency because of the vagueness of the statute that determines cost. The entire section is reproduced below for convenience:
If the nature or volume of public records requested to be inspected or copied pursuant to this subsection is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the agency involved, or both, the agency may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplication, a special service charge, which shall be reasonable and shall be based on the cost incurred for such extensive use of information technology resources or the labor cost of the personnel providing the service that is actually incurred by the agency or attributable to the agency for the clerical and supervisory assistance required, or both.

The statue was added to Florida law over 30 years ago in 1984— the same year Apple launched the Macintosh in an effort to make computers more accessible to the public.

Without a clear and modern interpretation of what constitutes “extensive use of information technology” those questions are left up to individual agencies. Sometimes that can have interesting and unintended results, like when a request at the Charlotte County Property Appraiser costs $50 while a similar request at the Polk County Property Appraiser costs $4.

Even when the current law encourages some form of digitization — namely, public record custodian contact information being posted on an agency's website — some agencies still lag behind.The lack of this contact information leaves agencies at risk for potential lawsuits — lawsuits that are funded by taxpayers. Yet even with that incentive, it’s still proven slow and difficult for state/county agencies to evolve.

Limitations

Despite the insights we gained during the audit, our findings are not as precise as we would have liked them to be due to two main limitations in our methodology. First, the fact that our survey, which was a request for information rather than a public records request, was voluntary. Second, the fact that record keeping across agencies wasn’t standardized.

Under Florida’s public records law, an agency is required to provide access to all non-exempt public records but doesn’t have to answer questions or provide information, including a response to our survey. Some organizations had security policies that prevented the record clerks from opening the survey link. Others declined to participate without providing a reason. The results we gathered are only from the agencies that took the time to volunteer information.

I don’t think there’s any way to necessarily put everything that is a public records request in some certain box

Next, our methodology required that each government agency had a proper method of keeping records. As the survey process advanced, it became clear that many agencies did not keep track of the fees collected or what information was being requested. No two agencies kept records the same way. Some agencies documented the fees quoted, fees collected, length of time it took to fill each request, and other factors, but many did not provide thorough documentation. Two agencies exported their entire email inboxes to a reporter as a way of turning over information. In another case, a records clerk told one of our reporters the agency does not keep records for any verbal requests. Some didn’t log any record of public record requests or fees collected.

The Collier County Tax Collector was one of the agencies that exported email inboxes to turn over to our team of reporters. Rob Stoneburner, an employee who handles public record requests at this agency, said Collier Tax does not keep track of what records are requested and does not plan to do so.

“I don’t think there’s any way to necessarily put everything that is a public records request in some certain box in order to dig it back out at a later date, because really everything is potentially a public record,” he said.

The lack of data on two types of agencies in particular were also a limitation of our findings. We submitted public records requests to Sheriff's Departments and Clerks of Court as part of our audit, but those two agencies consistently receive a much larger volume of public records requests than other agencies in their counties. This resulted in our requests to the Sheriff and Clerk of Court of large metropolitan counties (like Miami-Dade) having fees that are more expensive than our grant had the ability to pay for. For that reason, we decided to exclude Sheriff and Clerks of Court data from our audit data all together rather than only have the data from the smaller counties. Data from both kinds of agencies are still available from the survey.

A Case Study

As records custodians responded to our requests, the team observed variations in the methods of delivery. Some reporters received CDs while others received boxes of paper copies. The Duval County Property Appraiser was one of the few agencies to reply to the request with a detailed spreadsheet it already had on hand. Duval County Property Appraiser Jerry Holland has been involved in local government for 18 years, and he said he has seen some of the roadblocks we encountered.

Public records? If it’s important, they’ll request it at least three times.

The Duval County property appraiser provided this spreadsheet which showed the status and fees of public records requests made to their agency.

“I’ve seen the horrors and the nightmares of other agencies and how they handle public records,” he said. “When I was first in another office, I had a staff member who even responded one time to me saying ‘public records, if it’s important, they’ll request it at least three times before they respond’…This is not the way this is supposed to work.”

Holland said the variance in the way agencies keep track of public records requests is because of population. The more people, the more requests, he explained. And the more requests, the harder it is to keep up. But despite his role as property appraiser in Florida’s seventh largest county, the volume hasn’t been a problem.

Holland said providing the public records is the law, and his office just follows the statute. Doing so, he said, shouldn’t be as difficult as other agencies make it, and keeping those requests organized should also be simple if staffers input new information as soon as it’s available.

“It’s hard for me to get into the minds of each of the people who have to comply to public records request throughout the state. If their mind is ‘This is frivolous,’ why are they doing this? To me, this is the law, and it’s just a lot easier to abide by the law and process it and do it so that you’re consistent with whoever requests.”

Conclusion

This audit set out to find the true cost of public records in Florida but was unable to do so definitively because of the lack of comprehensive record keeping by individual agencies. This deficiency was consistent across multiple factors: metropolitan areas, rural areas, large populations and small populations. Until this public records data is properly digitized and made affordable to groups like us, the estimates provided in this report will be the most accurate ones available. This digitization could entail large multi-county systems to ensure consistency, but even a spreadsheet log as kept by some agencies could help reach the same end.

Even without a comprehensive account of the complete cost available, however, this report shows that the public records law needs a digital modernization as well. The costs associated with retrieving public records in an age of databases and PDFs are woefully undefined and vague in modern Florida law, leaving the decision of when and how much to charge to individual agencies. With no guidance from a state-level office, these agencies can charge dozens of residents a year small fees for records which are handed out for free mere miles away across the county line. Agencies can also charge for the entirety of their IT professional's hourly salary for any time spent retrieving public records, with minimum hourly fees, while others simply don't.

The intention of this report is not to single out individual cases of potential wrongdoing, but instead to highlight some of the systemic issues associated with the cost of getting access to public records in Florida. We hope this report serves as a template of best practices to agencies with regard to fees and record keeping. At the very least, it should spark conversation between agencies in different counties and empower them to define — together — what the best practices are, instead of deciding on their own from county to county and agency to agency. In the absence of a central authority on the matter, that might be the best route forward in the digital age.

Appendix

Table 1: Audit Data

 

CountyAgencyTotal RequestsRequests With FeesPercent With FeesRequests / 100k PopulationSum of FeesSum Fees / 100k PopulationAverage FeeHighest Fee
AlachuaTax Collector2600.00%10.11$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
AlachuaProperty Appraiser161275.00%6.22$54.99$21.39$54.99$54.99
AlachuaSupervisor of Elections18013474.44%70.02$1,135.20$441.61$8.87$45.00
AlachuaSchool Superintendent1031211.65%40.07$1,430.37$556.43$119.20$555.12
CharlotteState Attorney11100.00%0.08$141.70$11.31$141.70$141.70
CharlotteProperty Appraiser2828100.00%16.43$1,400.00$821.36$50.00$50.00
CharlotteTax Collector1100.00%6.45$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
CharlotteSupervisor of Elections18900.00%110.88$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
CollierTax Collector400.00%1.14$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
CollierProperty Appraiser22100.00%0.57$95.00$27.13$47.00$75.00
CollierSupervisor of Elections9111.11%2.57$69.20$19.76$69.20$69.20
CollierPublic Defender000.00%0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
CollierSchool Superintendent221167.24%63.11$660.19$188.52$41.26$124.48
CollierCity Clerk for County Seat477173.56%136.21$2,460.56$702.61$144.74$482.95
DuvalSupervisor of Elections2163315.28%23.39$577.40$62.51$17.50$60.00
DuvalSchool Superintendent3747419.79%40.49$39,037.05$4,226.40$557.67$10,820.84
DuvalProperty Appraiser3232100.00%3.46$776.90$84.11$24.28$147.00
DuvalPublic Defender23313.04%1.91$254.57$21.09$84.86$180.76
EscambiaSchool Superintendent1282922.66%41.29$2,438.63$786.69$84.09$418.65
EscambiaSupervisor of Elections12500.00%40.32$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
EscambiaPublic Defender500.00%0.68$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
EscambiaState Attorney669142.09%91.29$675.00$92.10$48.21$50.00
EscambiaTax Collector000.00%0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
EscambiaProperty Appraiser191052.63%6.13$250.00$80.65$25.00$25.00
Florida (State)Executive Office of Governor35800.00%1.78$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
Florida (State)Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services275470.25%13.67$1,089.97$5.41$155.71$239.12
MartinSupervisor of Elections000.00%0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
MartinProperty Appraiser1417.14%9.28$139.15$92.23$139.15$139.15
MartinState Attorney50612.00%7.93$1,216.26$192.78$202.71$758.86
MartinTax Collector13538.46%8.62$294.50$195.20$58.90$166.50
Miami DadeProperty Appraiser34411.76%1.26$782.31$28.97$195.58$621.36
Miami DadePublic Defender900.00%0.33$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
Miami DadeSchool Superintendent6157111.54%22.77$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
PolkProperty Appraiser16615693.98%25.66$1,654.75$255.76$10.61$76.00
PolkSchool Superintendent41710.24%64.45$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
VolusiaTax Collector100.00%0.19$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
VolusiaSupervisor of Elections20735.00%3.87$180.00$34.79$25.71$50.00
VolusiaProperty Appraiser600.00%1.16$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00

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Table 2: Survey Data

 

CountyAgencyQuestion 3Question 4Question 5Question 6Question 7Question 8Question 9Question 11Question 12Question 13Question 14Question 15Question 16
ColumbiaCity Clerk For County Seat2406More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 50% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
OrangeTax Collector3203More than 50 but less than 100We do not collect this dataStayed the sameLess than 10% of the costI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
St. LucieCounty Administrator7804More than 100 but less than 250None. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.Stayed the sameNone. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.NoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
DixieSupervisor of Elections33More than 50 but less than 100Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesI don’t knowYesYesYesYes
OrangeCity Clerk For County Seat30005More than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestI don’t knowLess than 10% of the costYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
WaltonSheriff5004More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costYesNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
TaylorClerk of Court2020More than 100 but less than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoNo
BradfordCity Clerk For County Seat703More than one but less than 50Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesI don't know
DeSotoSupervisor of Elections22We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoNoNo
TaylorSchool Superintendent50050More than 50 but less than 100None. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.Stayed the sameNone. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.I don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesI don't knowYes
UnionSupervisor of Elections33We do not collect this dataWe do not collect this dataStayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsNoNoNo. Each agency has discretion for what or how to charge for public recordsNoNoNo
LeeTax Collector24015More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
SeminoleProperty Appraiser507We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
MarionProperty Appraiser5252More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoNoNo
Santa RosaClerk of Court1155More than one but less than 50We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesI don’t knowNoNoYesI don't know
GulfCity Clerk For County Seat552More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
HolmesSheriff553More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costI don’t knowNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesI don't knowNo
GadsdenCounty Administrator20410More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
MadisonClerk of Court1410More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 50% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoNoNoNo
OkaloosaProperty Appraiser393More than one but less than 50Less than $50Stayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoYesNo
FranklinSupervisor of Elections33We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowNoNoI don’t knowYesYesYesNo
MarionClerk of Court180180We do not collect this dataWe do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
Florida StateState Attorney – 3rd Judicial Circuit6565More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 50% of the costYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNoNo
GadsdenCity Clerk For County Seat1164More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
HardeeSheriff10810We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
PolkCity Clerk For County Seat3202More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
PascoSheriff13003More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 50% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
WakullaClerk of Court206More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
LevySheriff1506More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
OsceolaSupervisor of Elections162More than 100 but less than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesI don't knowYesNo
BradfordSchool Superintendent5309More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
BayCounty Administrator68868We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We do not collect this dataIncreasedI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNoNo
Miami-DadeSheriff200060More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowYesNo. Each agency has discretion for what or how to charge for public recordsYesYesYesI don't know
PutnamClerk of Court602More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoI don't know
FranklinSchool Superintendent1856We do not collect this dataWe do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
CalhounSchool Superintendent3404More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoYesNo
DeSotoCounty Administrator20024More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
MadisonSchool Superintendent35010We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoYesYes
NassauSupervisor of Elections105YesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
SumterSchool Superintendent85010More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
DuvalClerk of Court350More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
SarasotaCounty Administrator22001More than 250Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
AlachuaClerk of Court1307More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
PinellasClerk of Court530350We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
Indian RiverCounty Administrator818100More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 25% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
OsceolaCounty Administrator150950More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 25% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
PascoClerk of Court33512More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
SeminoleSheriff12008More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowYesI don’t knowYesYesYesYes
LibertyCity Clerk For County Seat99More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoYesNo
FranklinClerk of Court1818We do not collect this dataWe do not collect this dataI don’t knowWe recoup 100% of the costsNoI don't knowYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
ColumbiaClerk of Court3615We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
PolkCounty Administrator190050More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 25% of the costYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
BakerCity Clerk For County Seat505More than one but less than 50None. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.Stayed the sameNone. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.NoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoNoNo
GilchristCounty Administrator852More than one but less than 50We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
HighlandsSheriff45010More than 250Less than $10I don’t knowI don’t knowI don’t knowYesNo. Each agency has discretion for what or how to charge for public recordsYesYesYesI don't know
LafayetteSchool Superintendent1603More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
HernandoSupervisor of Elections96More than 50 but less than 100Less than $10Stayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
HighlandsClerk of Court804More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
WaltonCity Clerk For County Seat100100More than 50 but less than 100We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
VolusiaClerk of Court270200We do not collect this dataLess than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoYesNo
JeffersonCounty Administrator17510More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 25% of the costNoYesI don’t knowI don't knowI don't knowYesI don't know
BaySchool Superintendent50005We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestI don’t knowLess than 50% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
WaltonSchool Superintendent12003More than 100 but less than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestIncreasedI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
HighlandsSupervisor of Elections81We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
HillsboroughClerk of Court670670We do not collect this dataWe collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestDecreasedI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoYesNo
LeonTax Collector9065More than 50 but less than 100Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesI don't knowYesI don't know
St. JohnsCounty Administrator18003More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
WashingtonSchool Superintendent5005Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
Florida StateState Attorney – 18th Judicial Circuit5More than 250Less than $100Stayed the sameLess than 50% of the costI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
OkaloosaSupervisor of Elections143More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoNo
OrangeClerk of Court41012More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
GadsdenSchool Superintendent8005More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
OsceolaCity Clerk For County Seat700300We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameLess than 10% of the costYesYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
CalhounClerk of Court121More than 100 but less than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
HardeeProperty Appraiser61More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoNoNoNo
Florida StateState Attorney – 2nd Judicial Circuit802More than 100 but less than 250Less than $100Stayed the sameI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYes
ManateeProperty Appraiser551More than one but less than 50Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 25% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesNoNoNo
LibertySchool Superintendent2361More than one but less than 50Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
St. LucieTax Collector1204More than 50 but less than 100Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
SumterCounty Administrator2093More than 100 but less than 250We do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNoNo
BayCity Clerk For County Seat2752More than 100 but less than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestIncreasedWe recoup 100% of the costsNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
JacksonClerk of Court2927We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestI don’t knowI don’t knowI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
ManateeSchool Superintendent77001More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
ColumbiaSupervisor of Elections91More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
PascoSchool Superintendent100004More than 100 but less than 250Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
HernandoCity Clerk For County Seat1501More than one but less than 50Less than $50Stayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYes
GadsdenClerk of Court3232More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoNoNoNo
HardeeCounty Administrator18610More than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
NassauCity Clerk For County Seat22510More than 100 but less than 250We do not collect this dataStayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
UnionTax Collector44More than one but less than 50We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestI don’t knowI don’t knowNoYesI don’t knowYesNoNoNo
SuwanneeClerk of Court3425We do not collect this dataWe do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
CitrusProperty Appraiser5020We do not collect this dataLess than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesI don't know
OsceolaProperty Appraiser574More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesI don't knowI don't knowNo
PutnamSheriff2314More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
St. LucieSheriff6502More than 250Less than $100Stayed the sameWe recoup 100% of the costsI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
HernandoSheriff5004More than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestIncreasedI don’t knowI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
SarasotaSupervisor of Elections304More than one but less than 50Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 50% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
PascoCity Clerk For County Seat874More than 50 but less than 100Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNo
St. LucieSupervisor of Elections201More than one but less than 50None. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.I don’t knowNone. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.NoI don't knowYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesNoI don't know
UnionSchool Superintendent3305More than one but less than 50None. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.I don’t knowNone. Our agency does not charge for copies of public records.NoNoYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesNoNoYesYes
SeminoleSheriff136010More than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowYesNo. Each agency has discretion for what or how to charge for public recordsYesYesYesYes
GulfClerk of Court151More than 100 but less than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
Florida StateDepartment of Corrections25,000100More than 250We do not collect this dataStayed the sameI don’t knowI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesNo
LeeSchool Superintendent12,0001More than 250Less than $50Stayed the sameLess than 100% of the costI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes
OsceolaCity Clerk For County Seat70070%We receive PRRs, but I don’t know the number.We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestStayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
LibertyProperty Appraiser32We do not collect this dataWe do not collect this dataStayed the sameLess than 10% of the costNoNoI don’t knowNoNoNoNo
Santa RosaSheriff2005More than 250Less than $10Stayed the sameLess than 10% of the costI don’t knowYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesI don't know
BayCity Clerk For County Seat2751More than 250We collect fees, but the I don’t know the amount per requestIncreasedI don’t knowNoYesYes. All departments adhere to the same fee policiesYesYesYesYes

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