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a. The Freedom of Information Act Coordinator may assign a FOIA request to a City
Department if the request is most appropriately handled by that City Department.
The City Department that receives a FOIA request either directly from a requester
or forwarded from the FOIA Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that
responses are complete and are made within the statutory time period
b. If the Freedom of Information Act Coordinator advises a City Department to
estimate the cost to respond, the City Department shall provide a cost estimate
and shall not begin assembling documents responsive to the request until so
advised by the Freedom of Information Act Coordinator.
VII. Charges
a. In accordance with applicable provisions of FOIA, the City may assess charges for
staff time and other expenses incurred in searching for and supplying records in
response to FOIA requests (Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-3704 (F)). Examples of other
expenses include but are not limited to, copy fees, postage, thumb drive costs,
and attorney review. Cost estimates provided to requesters will be itemized.
b. If the estimated cost to respond to a request exceeds $200, the Freedom of
Information Act Coordinator shall, before continuing to process the request,
require the requesting party to pay the estimated deposit (Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-
3704 (H)). The deposit shall be credited toward the final cost of supplying the
requested records if the final cost exceeds the estimate. If the final cost is less
than the estimate, any amount paid exceeding the estimate shall be refunded to
the requester. Whenever the City requires the payment of a deposit, the time in
which the Department must respond to the request stops running until the day
the deposit is received (Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-3704 (H)). Deposit request letters
should provide requesters with the option of narrowing the scope of the request
to minimize costs.
c. Neither law firms, attorneys, nor members of the press are exempt from FOIA
charges.
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