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June 30, 2009

Judge: Assessor’s office overcharged for copies

A judge has ruled the Muskogee County Assessor’s Office charged more than the law allows for an electronic copy of a database.

In doing so, the Open Records Act was violated, ruled District Judge Norman Thygesen.

The judge ruled an agreement between the plaintiff and the assessor is that the fee to make an electronic copy of the Muskogee County real property assessment database should be $50.

The prior practice of charging 5 cents for the first 25,000 parcels and 2 cents was not limited to recovering only the reasonable, direct costs of record copying and record search, the judge ruled.

The plaintiff, Roger W. Hurlbert dba Sage Information Services and Roger W. Hurlbert, is entitled to his reasonable attorney fees and costs in taking the action to court. Thygesen gave him 30 days from the filing of the judgment to file his application for the fees and costs.



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