How does $1.50 for one black-and-white copy sound? That’s the kind of fee that government offices often charge — and at least one judge has declared it illegal.

A Maine court recently decided in favor of a plaintiff against excessive copier charges. The fees in question came from getting copies of the Hancock County registry of deeds. As with many states, Maine has a Freedom of Access law that allows citizens and companies to inspect public records. But counties have been charging exorbitant fees for making copies and printouts of public records.

In the real world, black-and-white copies/prints should cost the county under 2 cents in toner, paper and overhead. Even a generous markup for labor should keep the cost at 10 cents or so. As the plaintiff noted, “The $1.50 per page fee for digital copies does not bear any relationship to the cost of providing digital copies, nor does it bear any relationship to the expenses incurred to run the Hancock County Registry of Deeds.”

It’s not like the $1 plus per page fees are a cost for the overhead of doing the job. The county offices in question charged the same high fees for one or a thousand pages.

The plaintiff is planning to sue 15 other Maine counties. Interestingly enough, Hancock County has dropped all fees for copying, allowing users to full access to their online database, from which they can print as many pages as they want.

Tags: copier costs, Freedom of Access, Maine