Public Records Fees

  • Charges to Obtain Records
    One-sided copies up to 8.5" x 14" will be charged at $0.15 each.
    Two-sided copies up to 8.5" x 14" will be charged at $0.20 each.

    The School District of Manatee County (SDMC) may impose a reasonable service charge for the actual cost of extensive labor and technology required. We must review every email/document for any personally identifiable information that is exempt from public records law. If there is exempt information, it will be redacted (taken out).

    SDMC charges for requests that consume more than 30 minutes of time to complete. This is at the rate of the lowest-paid employee capable of completing the job. Rate includes the hourly cost FRS, Medicare, and Social Security taxes.

    When multiple requests are made by one individual, they will be considered as one request, and extensive use charges will be applied after the first thirty (30) minutes.

    Payment is required before the request will be processed.

    Reduced Labor Costs
    Narrowing and making your public records request as specific as possible may reduce the extensive labor costs. Narrowing down requests to keywords or phrases instead of open-ended terms such as “any and all records.” Also, narrowing a request to certain individuals or a particular time frame or date range can greatly reduce the use of extensive labor.

    Broadly Stated Requests
    Sometimes a request is too broad for SDMC to identify records responsive to your request. In such instances, the Public Records Associate may request if it can be clarified or revised to be more specific. If your request is broad and results in a large volume of responsive records, you may be invoiced and assessed costs according to Florida Statutes Chapter 119.

    Closing Requests
    Public records requests will be closed if the requesting party fails to pay the final or good faith deposit invoice or fails to respond to clarification inquiries pertaining to a public records request for thirty (30) days following the issuance of the invoice or clarification inquiry. A non-responsive request may be resubmitted and will be processed as a new request.