There is usually no fee involved for simply inspecting or viewing a document during normal business hours. A copy or copies of a government record may be purchased by any person upon payment of the fee prescribed by law or regulation.
The fee assessed for the duplication of a government record in the form of printed matter has been established as follows: $0.05 per letter size page, and $0.07 per legal size page or larger.
When the actual cost of duplicating a government record exceeds the foregoing rate, then upon demonstration by the public agency of the actual cost of copying, the public agency shall be permitted to charge that cost.
A 50% deposit is required for requests resulting copy costs exceeding $25.
If the nature, format, manner of collation, or volume of printing government record to be copied is such that the record cannot be reproduced by ordinary document copying equipment, or involves an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort to accommodate the request, the public agency may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplicating the record, a special service charge that shall be reasonable and shall be based upon the actual direct cost of providing the copy. The requestor will be notified in advance of the special service charge and may object to the charge prior to it being incurred (NJSA 47:1A-5c).