Public Information Request
The Public Information Office will forward requests to the appropriate administrative Division and/or Department. If there are any questions regarding the request, the Public Information Officer will contact the District's legal counsel for advice.
The administrator(s) assigned to process the Request for Information will fill out the Estimated Cost form to determine a cost to gather the information. Please refer to policy GBAA (EXHIBIT), Guidelines for Copy Charges, which can be found under Board Policy Online.
The Public Information Office will obtain a signature from the requestor agreeing to pay costs if the estimated cost is more than $40.00. The approval from the requestor will be forwarded to the department gathering the information.
Once the information is ready to be disseminated, it will be returned to the Public Information Office, which will then contact the requestor.
All charges for public information must be paid in the Financial Services Office. Upon payment of charges, available copies of documents requested will be given to requestor.
The Public Information Office will retain the signed forms and keep them on file.
Please visit our online Public Records Center to complete the necessary forms if you are requesting public records.
The Texas Public Information Act allows a governmental agency to recover costs relating to reproducing public information. Additionally, a request for copies that results in more than fifty pages may be assessed charges for labor, overhead, and materials. If the estimated charges will exceed $40.00, you will receive an itemized statement of estimated charges before any work is undertaken.
Please make note, that the cost estimate received prior to starting the work, may result in charges more or less than the estimated amount based on the amount of hours and resources actually used to reproduce requests.
The following is a partial list of charges for copies of public information, as adopted by the General Services Commission:
- Standard paper copy–$.10 per page
- Oversized Paper copy–$.50 each;
- USB drive – $6.00
- Other–Actual cost
- For locating, compiling, and reproducing– Labor minutes ($15/hour)
- Overhead charge–20% of labor charge
- Miscellaneous supplies–Actual cost
- Postage and shipping charge–Actual cost
Additionally, as authorized by law, the District shall charge a requester for additional personnel time spent producing information for the requester after personnel of the District have collectively spent:
- 36 hours of time during the District's fiscal year; or
- 15 hours of time during a one-month period.
For more information please reference Policy GBAA.