§ 2-3. Fees for city services.

(a)

Municipal court documents.

(1)

Authorized. A fee for providing copies of municipal court documents is hereby authorized to be collected by the municipal court.

(2)

Amount. A two dollar ($2.00) fee will be charged for making copies of municipal court documents involved in any case.

(3)

Use of fees collected. All fees collected for making copies of municipal court documents shall be used exclusively for purchase of copy supplies and maintenance of the copy operation.

(b)

Health department. The health department is hereby authorized to charge the following fees in relation to the health department's function as local registrar of births and deaths. In addition, the health department is authorized to charge fees in relation to the department's function as custodian of official medical records for the purpose of duplication.

Document
Charge

(1)

Certified copy of birth certificate, any size ..... $ 23.00

(2)

Certified copy of death certificate, first copy ..... 21.00

(3)

Certified copy of death certificate, additional copy ..... 4.00

(4)

Search of birth or death records for genealogy (in addition to the cost of the birth certificate) ..... 23.00

(5)

Search of birth or death records, where copy is not found ..... 23.00

(6)

Plastic covers ..... 1.00

(7)

Postage, certified mail, return receipt requested—U.S. ..... Prevailing
rate

(8)

Postage, certified mail, return receipt requested—Outside of the U.S. or priority and express mail ..... Prevailing
rate

(9)

Certified copy of birth certificate, any size, non-Laredo/Webb County but within the state ..... 23.00

(10)

Copy of any health department record, excluding medical records, per page ..... 0.10

(11)

Notarization of affidavit ..... 15.00

(12)

Copy of medical record, for first twenty (20) pages ..... 25.00

Each additional page thereafter ..... 0.50

(13)

Vital statistics processing fee for online and mail-in requests ..... 5.00

(c)

City secretary's office. The city secretary is hereby authorized to charge the following fees in relation to the city secretary's function as custodian of official records or proceedings of the city council.

(1)

City Charter ..... $ 5.00

(2)

Certification, other documents ..... 1.00

(3)

Copies of documents (other governmental) ..... 15.00

(4)

Verbatim transcript of minutes of any meeting; charge to be arranged between the requesting party and the city secretary on an hourly basis.

(d)

Charges for copies of public information, except as provided elsewhere herein.

(1)

Definitions.

a.

Actual labor charges shall mean the personnel costs associated with taking requests, locating documents and reproducing the requested information and shall be computed at the rate of $15.00 per hour, including fringe benefits except that in the case of a programmer, the rate shall be $26.00 an hour, including fringe benefits.

b.

Nonstandard size copy shall mean, if available, a copy of public information that is made available to a requestor in any format other than a standard size paper copy. Microfiche, microfilm, diskettes, magnetic tapes, CD-ROM, are examples of "nonstandard-size copies."

c.

Programmer shall mean a person who develops or enhances high level code or computer language for a computer system in order to execute a specific process or application.

d.

Readily available information shall mean information that already exists in printed form, or information that is stored electronically and is ready to be printed or copied without requiring programming, or information that already exists on microfiche or microfilm. Information that requires a substantial amount of time to locate or prepare for release, being that it is located in more than one (1) building or a remote storage facility is not "readily available information."

e.

Standard-size copy shall mean a printed impression on one (1) side of a piece of paper that measures up to eight and one-half (8½) by fourteen (14) inches. Each side of a piece of paper on which an impression is made is counted as a single copy. A piece of paper that is printed on both sides is counted as two (2) copies.

f.

Overhead charge shall mean:

1.

Whenever any personnel charge is applicable to a request, a governmental body may include in the charges direct and indirect costs, in addition to the specific personnel charge. This overhead charge would cover such costs as depreciation of capital assets, rent, maintenance and repair, utilities and administrative overhead. If a governmental body chooses to recover such costs, a charge shall be made in accordance with the schedule set forth in this section.

2.

An overhead charge shall not be made for requests for copies of fifty (50) pages or fewer of standard paper records.

(2)

For open records requested by members of the public, the following charges shall be made:

a.

[Standard paper copies.] The charge for standard paper copies of readily available information which is reproduced by means of an office machine copier or a computer printer shall be ten cents ($0.10) per page for standard size copies.

b.

[Cost of materials.] The charges in this subsection are to cover the cost of materials on to which information is copied and do not reflect any additional charges that may be associated with a particular request.

c.

Personnel charge. With regard to personnel costs the following applies:

1.

The charge for personnel costs incurred in processing a request for public information is twenty-six dollars ($26.00) an hour for programming personnel and fifteen dollars ($15.00) per hour for personnel other than programming, and the charge may include the actual time spent to locate, compile and reproduce the requested information.

2.

No personnel charge shall be billed in connection with complying with requests that are for fifty (50) or less pages of paper records, unless the documents to be copied are located in:

i.

Two (2) or more separate buildings that are not physically connected with each other: or

ii.

A remote storage facility

3.

Overhead charge ..... 20 percent
of personnel charge

d.

The charges for nonstandard-size copies, if available, are as follows:

1.

Diskette, each ..... $1.00

2.

i.

Magnetic tape—4 mm, each ..... 13.50

ii.

Magnetic tape—8 mm, each ..... 12.00

iii.

Magnetic tape—9-track, each ..... 11.00

3.

i.

Data cartridge—2000 series, each ..... 17.50

ii.

Data cartridge—3000 series, each ..... 20.00

iii.

Data cartridge—6000 series, each ..... 25.00

iv.

Data cartridge—9000 series, each ..... 35.00

v.

Data cartridge—600A, each ..... 20.00

4.

i.

Tape cartridge—250 MB, each ..... 38.00

ii.

Tape cartridge—525 MB, each ..... 45.00

5.

VHS video cassette, each ..... 2.50

6.

Audio cassette, each ..... 1.00

7.

Oversized paper copy, each ..... 0.50

8.

Mylar (36-inch, 42-inch, and 48-inch):

i.

3-mil, per linear foot ..... 0.85

ii.

4-mil, per linear foot ..... 1.10

iii.

5-mil, per linear foot ..... 1.35

9.

Blueline/blueprint paper (all widths), per linear foot ..... 0.20

10.

Other ..... Actual cost

11.

DVD, each ..... 3.00

12.

CD (RW or regular), each ..... 1.00

13.

Other electronic media ..... Actual cost

e.

Postage and shipping charge: The actual cost of postage and shipping may be charged (if applicable) on any amount of copies requested.

f.

Microfiche or microfilm charge

1.

Paper copy, per page ..... 0.10

2.

Fiche or film copy ..... Actual cost

g.

Remote document retrieval charge ..... Actual cost

h.

Computer resource charge

1.

Mainframe, per minute ..... 10.00

2.

Midsize, perminute ..... 1.50

3.

Client/server, per hour ..... 2.20

4.

PC or LAN, per hour ..... 1.00

i.

Miscellaneous supplies ..... Actual cost

j.

Photographs ..... Actual cost

k.

Other costs ..... Actual cost

l.

Outsourced/contracted services ..... Actual cost

m.

No sales tax shall be applied to copies of public information.

(3)

An officer for public information or the officer's agent may require a deposit for payment of anticipated costs for the preparation of a copy of public information if the charge is estimated to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00).

(4)

A charge may not be imposed for making available for inspection and not a copy of any public information that exists in a paper record, except that if a requested page contains confidential information that must be edited from the record before the information can be made available, then the charge of ten cents ($0.10) per page for the cost of the copy from which the information must be edited shall be made.

(e)

Charges for credit card processing fees.

(1)

A convenience fee of three (3) percent based on charges will be assessed on all credit card transactions processed through the internet and telephone payments (voice response system).

(2)

Over-the-counter transactions and mail payments will not be assessed this fee.

(Ord. No. 82-29, §§ 1—3, 2-2-82; Ord. No. 82-46, §§ 1—3, 2-16-82; Ord. No. 83-20, § 1, 3-1-83; Ord. No. 87-173, § 1, 11-2-87; Ord. No. 89-191, § 1, 10-2-89; Ord. No. 90-49, § 1, 3-5-90; Ord. No. 95-109, § 1, 5-1-95; Ord. No. 97-022, § 1, 1-20-97; Ord. No. 98-221, § 1, 8-24-98; Ord. No. 2000-O-065, § 1, 3-20-00; Ord. No. 2000-O-168, § 1, 7-3-00; Ord. No. 2001-O-049, § 1, 2-26-01; Ord. No. 2001-051, § 2, 2-26-01; Ord. No. 2001-O-117. § 1, 6-18-01; Ord. No. 2002-O-153, § 1, 7-15-02; Ord. No. 2002-O-321, § 1, 12-16-02; Ord. No. 2003-O-137, § 1, 6-16-03; Ord. No. 2005-O-331, § 1, 12-19-05; Ord. No. 2008-O-040, § 1, 3-10-08; Ord. No. 2008-O-231, § 1, 12-1-08; Ord. No. 2012-O-144, § 1, 9-17-12; Ord. No. 2013-O-059, § 1, 5-20-13; Ord. No. 2013-O-065, § 1, 5-20-13)

Editor's note

Neither Ord. No. 82-29, adopted Feb. 2, 1982, nor Ord. No. 82-46, adopted Feb. 16, 1982, amended this Code. Sections 1—3 of Ord. No. 82-29 have been included as § 2-3(a), and §§ 1—3 of Ord. No. 82-46 have been included as subsection (b). Subsequently, § 1(a) of Ord. No. 83-20, adopted Mar. 1, 1983, reaffirmed the fee given in subsection (b)(2); and § 1(b) was added as § 2-3(c). These were, in turn, repealed by § 2 of Ord. No. 90-49, adopted Mar. 5, 1990. Section 1 of Ord. No. 90-49 has been included as a new subsection (b).

Cross reference

Birth and death certificate fees, § 15-2; fee for dismissal of traffic case, § 19-18.