Except where otherwise provided by statute, fees are not more than 50 cents per page for computer printouts, plus the “actual cost incurred from the use of the computer time.” 950 CMR 32.06(1). However, “[t]he only such ‘actual costs’ which may be recovered are: the cost of the energy consumed during use, the materials used, and the prorated salary of the computer operator.” SPR Bulletin 4-96, Fees for Access and Copying of Electronic Public Records (June 7, 1996). The custodian is required to develop a program for segregating responsive electronic data from exempt data, and, again, only actual costs may be charged. SPR Bulletin 4-96, at 2. In any event, the fee may not include costs expended to develop the database, input data, create the original records (unless the custodian is voluntarily creating a record in response to the request, see III.B, above) or organize files; because a records custodian has an independent, affirmative obligation to maintain records in an orderly fashion, those costs cannot be passed along to a requester. SPR Bulletin 4-96 (June 7, 1996); Guide to Mass. Pub. Recs. Law (Sec’y of State, rev. March 2009), at 3.
In some instances, statutes prescribe fees for specific types of records. See, e.g., G.L. c. 66, § 10(a) (pertaining to motor vehicle accident reports, fire insurance reports, and other records of police or fire departments); G.L. c. 262, § 38 (copies of Registry of Deeds records). The records custodian may charge the actual cost of reproduction (as defined below) for a copy of a record “not susceptible to ordinary means of reproduction, such as large computer records….” Guide to Mass. Pub. Recs. Law (Sec’y of State, rev. March 2009), at 2; 950 CMR 32.06(1)(f).