Colorado Politics: Imagine asking your local government for information to better understand a decision affecting your community — only to be handed a bill large enough to cover a month’s rent or mortgage payment. That’s precisely what happened when I submitted a public records request to Jefferson County for emails exchanged between county employees and consultants from The Bighorn Company, a firm paid to craft a controversial ballot measure. The response? A jaw-dropping $2,550 price tag, purportedly for 85 hours of research, review and redaction at $30 an hour.
This isn’t just a Jefferson County issue. Across Colorado, government agencies use inflated costs and burdensome estimates to discourage residents from accessing public information. These practices create barriers that shut the public out.
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