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Borough of Brooklawn, NJ
Camden County
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[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Brooklawn 3-21-2005 by Ord. No. 3-05. Amendments noted where applicable.]
New Jersey has adopted the Open Public Records Act[1] which has as its general purpose making government records more available to the public than they have been in the past. In certain instances, the production of archived records or records in a format which is not the usual format maintained by the municipality or other special circumstances would be costly and time consuming. The New Jersey Public Records Act permits the municipality to require the payment of fees, special service charges and/or special charges as a prerequisite to the production of records for inspection or photocopying requiring extraordinary time and effort, special equipment or special formatting.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J. S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
[Amended 12-20-2010 by Ord. No. 9-10]
The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests under the Open Public Records Act. The fees of N.J.S.A. 47:1 A-5 are hereby incorporated herein as such fee schedule presently exists or as such fees might appear in future modifications or amendments of the statute. At present time, fees under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 for routine copies of municipal documents are as follows:
A. 
Letter-size pages or smaller: $0.05 per page.
B. 
Legal-size page or larger: $0.07 per page.
C. 
If the actual costs to produce the paper copy exceed the rates of $0.05 and/or $0.07, the actual costs of duplication will be charged.
D. 
Actual postage for any documents sent by mail.
E. 
Actual costs for the envelope for any documents sent by mail.
F. 
Photographs will be photocopied at the actual cost. If requests are made for supplicate photographs, the actual cost of making the photographs shall be charged.
G. 
Duplication of a videotape, computer disk, CD-ROM and/or DVD will be charged the actual costs to provide this record.
H. 
Any document that has to be retrieved from the off-site record archive facility will be charged the actual costs to retrieve this document.
Nothing in this chapter shall require the custodian of documents or any other municipal official to examine, analyze, tabulate or interpret documents which are subject to production under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.
A. 
Charges authorized. The Borough Clerk or other custodian or keeper of documents qualifying for mandatory production as "governmental records" under the New Jersey Public Records Act shall be entitled to special service charges and/or special charges as set forth in § 82A-5 of this chapter.
B. 
Requests to be in writing. Any requests for documents shall be made to the Borough Clerk on a form established by the Borough Clerk for such purposes.
C. 
Advance notice of fees; special service charges and special charges; deposit.
(1) 
Any requester of government records under this chapter shall receive advance notice of the amount of fees and charges before any work is started if it is anticipated by the Borough Clerk that the charges shall exceed $5. The Borough Clerk may require prepayment of such charges before causing the work to begin.
(2) 
Any requester of government records to be produced for inspection or photocopying, which are eligible for the imposition of a special charge or special service charge under § 82A-5 of this chapter, shall receive advance notice of the estimated amount of fees and charges before any work is started. The Borough Clerk shall require prepayment of such estimated amount as a deposit before causing the work to begin on production or photocopying.
A. 
Duplication or other work beyond capability of municipal in-house work force. Whenever the in-house municipal work force or available municipal equipment is insufficient to duplicate or produce for inspection government records in a timely fashion, the Borough Clerk may cause such duplication or production to be accomplished by outside vendors such as copy centers or producers of digital images. If the costs of such duplication or production charged by such vendors exceeds the routine charges set forth in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, the actual direct cost of same without any additional surcharge for labor costs shall be paid.
B. 
Special service charges authorized. Whenever government records cannot be reproduced by regular copying equipment or fulfillment of the request for photocopying or production for inspection would involve extraordinary expenditure of time and effort to accommodate the request (for example, where a large number of records must be recovered from storage or substantial staff time is required to review, sort and assemble records), charges may be imposed as follows:
(1) 
The actual cost (materials and supplies but no staff labor) of duplication or reproduction; plus
(2) 
A special service charge of $28 per person per hour or the actual direct cost of labor (if less) shall be imposed for each hour of extraordinary time predicted to be utilized to respond to the request for photocopying or production for inspection.
C. 
Rates for in-house production of prints or blueprints. Any prints or blueprints produced in-house in response to a governmental records request shall be produced for actual cost of labor and materials for reproduction of such prints or blueprints.
D. 
Cost of GIS data. The cost of any GIS data owned by the Borough of Brooklawn shall be actual cost of labor and materials for reproduction of such data.
E. 
Digital records. If a request for governmental records involves production or conversion of digital or computerized records or film which is in a medium not routinely used by the agency (i.e., electronic or film); not routinely developed or maintained by an agency; or requiring a substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology; then requester shall pay fees and special charges as follows:
(1) 
Direct costs (no overhead) to comply with the request; plus
(2) 
Special charges; the cost of technology and labor actually incurred.
F. 
Certified copies of certain records. The Borough Clerk or other custodian or keeper of documents shall be authorized to make the following charges for the following governmental records:
[Added 10-16-2006 by Ord. No. 13-06]
(1) 
Certified copy of a marriage certificate: $10 per copy.
(2) 
Certified copy of a birth certificate: $10 per copy.
(3) 
Certified copy of a death certificate: $10 per copy.
(4) 
Certified copy of affidavit of domestic partnership: $10 per copy.
G. 
The following schedule of fees is hereby established with respect to the various licenses, permits and activities required under the provisions of Borough ordinances. Applications for and the issuance of such licenses and permits shall be subject to the provisions of the specific chapter of the Code which is indicated for each type of license or permit. The business, activity, or operation for which the license or permit is required shall be subject to all regulations set forth in the chapter to which reference is made.
[Added 4-21-2014 by Ord. No. 5-14]
Type of License, Permit or Activity
Fee
Lien redemption request:
1st request (in writing):
No charge
2nd request (in writing):
No charge
3rd and subsequent requests (in writing):
$50
The Borough of Brooklawn may be compelled by New Jersey law to produce or duplicate governmental records, but no compliance with these legal obligations shall be deemed to constitute a license, sublicense or waiver of copyright laws.