Council Report - City Clerk

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Fees and Charges Report 
Date:  
March 5, 2026 
To: 
 
Audit, Finance, and Enterprise Committee  
Through: 
Scott Butler, City Manager 
 
From:  
Holly Moseley, City Clerk 
 
Subject: 
City Clerk Update to Schedule of Fees and Charges, Citywide 
 
Purpose and Recommendation 
The purpose of this report is to request approval to add a new commercial public records 
request fee to the City’s Schedule of Fees and Charges. This proposed fee would 
establish a charge of $25 per hour with a one-hour minimum for the processing of 
commercial public records requests. Staff recommends that the Audit, Finance, and 
Enterprise Committee forward the proposed fee to the City Council for consideration and 
adoption. 
Background 
Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S. § 39-121.03) authorize public agencies to charge fees 
for the production of public records when the request is for a commercial purpose. Under 
the statute, a commercial public records request is defined as one made for the purpose 
of sale or resale of records, solicitation, or any use in which the requester can reasonably 
anticipate monetary gain from the direct or indirect use of the records. The statute allows 
agencies to recover a portion of labor and other associated costs incurred in fulfilling such 
requests. 
The City Clerk’s Office has experienced a steady increase in the volume and complexity 
of commercial public records requests over the past several years. These requests often 
involve substantial staff research time, coordination with departments, and document 
review. The City’s existing Schedule of Fees and Charges includes commercial public 
records request fees within certain departments – including Fire and medical ($30 per 
hour), Development Services ($46 per hour), and a flat fee within Animal Control – 
however, there is currently no clearly established commercial request fee applicable to 
records processed through the City Clerk’s Office. The proposed fee would be adopted 
within the City Clerk’s Office section of the Schedule of Fees and Charges; however, 
other departments would have the ability to reference and utilize this established fee when 
processing commercial public records requests, if appropriate. Existing departmental 
commercial request fees would remain unchanged. Establishing a Clerk’s Office fee 
would provide consistency, transparency, and a clearly defined cost-recovery structure

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for commercial requests Citywide. 
Discussion 
Commercial public records requests generally require additional staff time to research, 
compile, review, and prepare records for release compared to standard requests. The 
increase in these requests has led to measurable impacts on Citywide operations, 
including delays in processing non-commercial requests and additional workload on staff. 
Establishing a commercial records request fee would help offset a portion of the 
personnel costs associated with these requests and align the City with common practices 
across Arizona municipalities. The fee would support workload management, enhance 
cost recovery, and uphold statutory allowances. 
Methodology 
To develop the proposed fee, the City Clerk’s Office consulted with the City Attorney’s 
Office and the Human Resources Department to ensure compliance with A.R.S. § 39-
121.03 and to establish a reasonable cost-recovery rate. The statute permits public 
agencies to charge a reasonable fee for the cost of time, materials, equipment, and 
personnel associated with fulfilling commercial public records requests. Human 
Resources confirmed that the current average hourly rate for the lowest-paid eligible full-
time classification within the City is $26.10. Based on this analysis, staff recommends 
establishing a rate of $25 per hour with a one-hour minimum to capture basic 
administrative and processing time. 
A review of commercial public records activity over the past three calendar years reflects 
no commercial requests received in 2023 or 2024; however, in 2025, the City Clerk’s 
Office received 21 commercial public records requests, of which three resulted in 
payment at $25 per request. The recent increase in commercial requests highlights the 
need for a clearly established and consistently applied fee within the Schedule of Fees 
and Charges. The proposed fee is not intended to generate significant revenue, but rather 
to provide consistency, transparency, and equitable cost recovery moving forward. 
Benchmarking with other Arizona jurisdictions indicates that similar hourly or fixed 
commercial request fees are commonly implemented, and the proposed rate is consistent 
with statewide practices. 
Alternatives 
MAINTAIN CURRENT PRACTICE  
Under this option, the City would assess commercial public records requests fees based 
on the department responsible for fulfilling the request, resulting in different fee amounts 
across departments and no single uniform charge. This alternative does not support cost 
recovery or operational efficiency. 
Fiscal Impact 
Adoption of the proposed fee is expected to generate modest revenue that offsets staff 
costs associated with processing commercial public records requests. No new staffing or 
resources are required to implement this fee, and no General Fund expenditures are 
anticipated. Revenue will vary depending on request volume, estimated Fiscal Impact is

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$525.00. 
Coordinated With 
• City Attorney’s Office 
• Human Resources Department 
• Office of Management and Budget 
All departments consulted support the proposed addition to the Schedule of Fees and 
Charges.

Fees & Charges Schedule – Key 
 
 
 
 
 
Heading Configuration 
Schedule of Fees & 
Charges  
Department 
Contact Information 
HEADING 1 
HEADING 2 
Heading 3 
Description of Fee 
   Description of Fee 2 
 
 
 
Font Indications 
Font  
Font Indications 
Regular Font 
Existing fee or language 
Strikethrough  
Fee or language will be deleted 
from the Fee Schedule 
BOLD CAPS 
Language is being added to Fee 
Schedule 
Bold 
New or increased Fee Amount

Schedule of Fees & Charges 
Exhibit A – Commercial Public Records Request Fee 
Department: City Clerk  
Description of Service 
Current Fee 
Range 
Proposed 
Fee Range 
Unit 
Total Fiscal 
Impact 
Notes 
PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS 
COMMERCIAL PUBLIC RECORD 
REQUEST 
 
$25 
Per hour 
with one 
hour 
minimum 
$525.00 New Fee 
 
Estimated Total Annual Fiscal Impact: 
$525.00