PR 99-06 (1999).
Case Date | April 27, 1999 |
Court | Rhode 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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