PR 99-06 (1999).

Case DateApril 27, 1999
CourtRhode Island
Rhode Island Attorney General Opinions 1999. PR 99-06 (1999). State of Rhode Island Department of the Attorney GeneralPR 99-06 (1999)PR 99-06 Christopher P. Morra v. E. Providence Tax AssessorsUnofficial Finding: PR 99-06April 27, 1999Christopher P. MorraEast Providence, RI 02916Re: Christopher P. Morra v. E. Providence Tax AssessorsOur File No.: PR 99-0145 Dear Mr. Morra: The investigation with respect to your Access to Public Records Act ("APRA") complaint against the City of East Providence Tax Assessor ("Tax Assessor") is complete. You contend that the Tax Assessor violated the APRA by: (1) not permitting you to obtain copies of the field cards, appeals, minutes of any hearings, including the years prior to your ownership for the properties listed at: 21 Morra Way (120 Pleasant Street), 6 Bridgham Court, 194 Pleasant Street, 268 Pawtucket Avenue, and 65 Newport Avenue; (2) not permitting you to obtain copies of the field cards, for the tax years 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999, for the properties listed at: 42 Pleasant Street, 235 Pleasant Street, 229 Pleasant Street, 60 Pleasant Street, 150 Greenwood Avenue, 400 Pawtucket Avenue, 150 Pleasant Street, 3191 Pawtucket Avenue, 15 Circle Street, 151 Pleasant Street, 26 Bridgham Farm Road, 23 Bridgham Farm Road; and (3) not permitting you to obtain a copy of all properties that have or are currently receiving the homestead exemption under R.I. Gen.Laws §44-5-70 and Resolution 18. Specifically, you requested the total assessment, name and address of the property owner, property type, and the amount of the exemption. Your letter of complaint also provides that the City informed you that "for cost and retrieval time, only the first thirty (30) minutes is free." You contend that if the City had provided you with the above-mentioned documents as you requested them on a gradual basis, the retrieval time would not have exceeded that set forth by statute. In pursuit of our investigation, we received the City's written response from City Solicitor, William Conley, Jr. Esquire, which only set forth the Town's explanation for its response regarding the costs for the requested documents. In regard to the cost of copying and retrieval, Mr. Conley explained that "now that the retrieval work has been Christopher Morra Page 2 of 6 April 27, 1999 done, the total actual cost is $41.25; $11.25 for copies and $30.00 for retrieval time." The City Solicitor also provided that "nothing in the correspondence constitutes a denial or refusal to provide the records... The City is prepared to provide Mr. Morra with this information." I. Public Records With respect to the question of whether the records you requested are in fact public records, the Access to Public Records Act provides that all records maintained or kept on file by any public body shall be records, accessible to every person, R.I. Gen.Laws §38-2-3(a). However, the APRA exempts from disclosure twenty-three (23) categories of documents which...

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