A Harrisburg attorney who has sought the public disclosure of Joe Paterno's salary is turning his public record requests toward counties, which he claims charge thousands of dollars more for electronic tax assessment databases than the law allows.
Craig J. Staudenmaier, who helped to incorporate the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition last year as a nonprofit, alleges some counties are blocking access to public records by charging by the parcel rather than by the cost of copying the data onto a compact disc.
Staudenmaier initiated a court petition this month in Fayette County and another last month in Allegheny County.
But several counties insist it's appropriate to charge a nominal fee per parcel for a database that potentially could be retrieved cheaply for organizations wanting to use the information for commercial purposes.
"He is requesting public records that are available, but the law allows us to charge a fee that is comparable to the marketplace," said Doug Hill, the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania and the Assessors' Association of Pennsylvania.
Hill likened the creation of a county database to the work of a private company that would produce a database for a client.
He said it wouldn't be fair to taxpayers or private businesses if a county were, for example, to spend $100,000 to create a geographic information system only to sell it for a few cents or dollars.
Staudenmaier, who specializes in First Amendment and media cases, argued before the state Supreme Court in May that salaries of Penn State employees, including football coach Paterno, should be public.
The lawyer, who has represented several media outlets, argues that his requests are for databases already in counties' possession, requiring less than an hour of office work and no special personnel, hardware or software.
In the petition filed July 9 in Fayette, Staudenmaier said the county contends its 10-cents-per-record fee is "not negotiable."
With about 83,000 parcels countywide, that puts the cost of a CD around $8,300.
Staudenmaier claims the fee violates the state's "Right-to-Know Law."
"The imposition of a fee of this magnitude has as its sole purpose the blocking or denial of access of public records by a citizen of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania without a reasonable or rational basis in law and thus, is impermissible under the act," he wrote.
Staudenmaier did not return a message left at his office.
He requested that Fayette County Judge John F. Wagner Jr. schedule a hearing on his petition.
Neighboring counties Westmoreland and Indiana charge 5 cents per parcel.
Bill Ferraro, director of Westmoreland's tax assessment office, said one of the issues sparked by Staudenmaier's requests is whether a county database is actually a public record.
He said his office does not maintain its database of about 190,000 parcels as a public record, although individual assessment cards may be viewed at the courthouse in Greensburg.
If an advertising firm were to request a specific database, his office would create it and charge based on the time involved and the number of records.
Ferraro also noted the records are available on the county's Web site.
"It may not be as current as in our office, but it'll be close," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association said she doesn't believe the counties have case law on their side.
"PNA completely agrees with Craig's legal reasoning, and it shouldn't be that big of a trouble to get electronic data," said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
