FOIA Statement

A reasonable fee not to exceed the actual cost will be charged for the search, retrieval, and,
when appropriate, redaction of records produced in response to a request for public records
under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). Additionally, copies will be
charged at a cost not to exceed the prevailing commercial rate for the producing of copies. In
certain cases, particularly FOIA requests in which a large number of records or confidential
information is requested, a deposit not exceeding 25% of the total estimated fee will be required
prior to commencing the retrieval and production of records.

Reasonable efforts will be made to produce records at the lowest possible cost, and the following
fee schedule will apply:
Copying costs will be charged at a commercially reasonable rate of $0.10 per page, and, the fee
for non-standard size documents, such as architectural plans or property plats, will be
individually determined at a time of copying based on actual copying cost. Color copies can be
made upon request at a commercially reasonable rate of $0.80 per page.

 

Search, retrieval, and redaction costs of records will be charged at a prorated hourly salary of the
lowest paid employee who, in the reasonable discretion of the custodian of the records, has the
necessary skill and training to perform the search, retrieval, and, if appropriate, redaction.
Records requests involving specialized, technical, or confidential information, or otherwise
requiring redaction, will in many cases require an employee with a higher salary to perform the
search, retrieval, and/or redaction. The fee rate, accordingly, will vary based on the nature of the
records requested, depending on the necessary skill and training level necessary. However, the
current minimum applicable fee rate is $20 per hour. Employee time will be billed based on ¼
hour increments.

 

The fee schedule may vary from time to time as hourly wages, salaries, and commercially
reasonable copying costs change.

 

Fees will not be charged for examination and review of documents to determine if the documents
are subject to disclosure. Additionally, copying costs will not be charged for copies of records
that are transmitted in electronic format, although if requested records are not already in
electronic format, fees will be charged for staff time required to transfer the documents to
electronic format.

USB drives or CDs will be used if necessary or by request to transmit document files that are too
large to send via email. USB drives and CDs will be charge at a commercially reasonable rate of
$5.00 per unit.