Photocopy costs 10 cents or less, but governments still charge 25 cents for open records

From The Complete Colorado:  The cost of making a single photocopy does not exceed five to 10 cents for most government agencies. Yet most, if not all governments in Colorado, continue to charge the maximum fee allowed by law at 25 cents per page for citizens and journalists who obtain paper photocopies of documents via the Colorado Open Records Act.

CompleteColorado asked seven state and local agencies for a copy of their photocopier maintenance contracts, which usually list the specific cost for the machine to generate one photocopy.

Take for example the Denver Department of Public Safety (DPS), which includes the Denver Police and Fire Departments. According to all of Denver’s copier maintenance contracts, DPS has the ability to produce a photocopy at the cost of $.0044, excluding materials like paper, toner, and electricity. If you price a single sheet of paper at $.015, then DPS can create a photocopy for almost exactly $.02, perhaps a bit more including toner and electricity. Yet the agency stands by charging the maximum fee of $.25.

When asked if they could charge less, DPS only responded by saying they were in compliance with current state statutes.

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