City attorney tells Newport Council statute limits public-records fees; council will hold hearing

The Newport City Council heard from the city attorney on how state law governs municipal public-records (PRA) fees and the steps required to adopt a local fee schedule. The attorney told the council the statute allows municipalities to adopt their own schedule of charges but that, in the absence of a municipal schedule, the Secretary of State's schedule controls copying and staff-time fees.

"The statute requires that the council hold a hearing in which these costs are presented to the council," the city attorney said, adding municipalities must base fees on actual costs including paper or electronic media, prorated equipment maintenance and replacement, and direct utility charges. For staff time, the attorney recommended basing charges on the actual cost of a staff person's salary prorated over the time spent and noted the council should document assumptions and backup numbers.

Why it matters: Updating the fee schedule could change how the city recovers costs for record production and may reduce the staff burden of fulfilling large requests. However, the council cannot set fees that include unrelated administrative overhead; they must reflect the narrow cost factors the statute lists.

Next steps: Council and staff will hold department‑head meetings to collect the evidence and cost calculations the statute requires, then return to the city attorney to prepare for a formal public hearing on a proposed schedule of charges.