Public Records Fee Policy

In order to pay for the cost of staff, custodians of public records within the Town of Buena Vista may charge for research and retrieval time necessary to respond to requests for records under the Colorado Open Records Act (“CORA”). Pursuant to C.R.S. §24-72-205(6), staff time may be charged at a rate not to exceed $33.58 per hour. There shall be no charge for the first hour of time for research and retrieval of records. 

When a record custodian receives a CORA request, the custodian may estimate the research and retrieval time it will take to research and retrieve the records requested. The estimate of time and the appropriate fee may be provided to the requestor before work is performed, to determine if the requestor seeks to move forward with his/her request, understanding the associated cost. The custodian may require the requestor to pay the fee before proceeding to research and retrieve the records. If the requestor pays the fee based on the estimate and the time necessary to subsequently perform the research and retrieval of the records is less than the estimate, the custodian shall give a refund to the requestor.