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The discussion came up after the county assessor's office received a letter from Oklahoma-based County Records, Inc.
"The first thing they cite in the letter is the federal Freedom of Information Act, so it's almost like they're anticipating a fight," said Assessor Amy Ramos. "They're asking for every property record we have on a monthly basis."
The information request included mailing addresses, appraised value, assessed value, exemptions, and homestead exemptions. Ramos said the company basically wants her entire system.
"All of this information is public record and available on our Internet site," she said. "I assume they want the information in a format that's acceptable to them so it can be resold."
All 11 Panhandle counties have received the same request from County Records, as well as several counties in northeast Nebraska. In addition to receiving the assessor's records on a monthly basis, the company is requesting all records from the surveyor's office on a quarterly basis.
Ramos said that while the technology exists allowing an outside company to directly access the assessor's database, she would oppose that option.
"People are welcome to retrieve the information themselves, but I don't want to set a precedent by allowing others to put stuff on my server," she said. "If something happens to the server, the liability is ours."
Currently, the assessor has approximately 22,000 individual property records. Persons are free to research the information, but the office charges 50 cents per parcel for copying.
Ramos said the letter from County Records said they would pay "reasonable" charges for the information. However, she wasn't sure they would be willing to pay $11,000 a month for it.
County Attorney Derek Weimer told the board he was also concerned about allowing outside agencies access to the county's database. He suggested responding to the request by stating County Records is welcome to all their public records via the Internet or by inspecting the documents in the assessor's office. However, the county would not change its records policy or add staff just to meet the request.
"They're welcome to the information just like anyone else," Ramos said. "They'll also be charged the same copying fees that anyone else would. That's consistent and fair."
There was also some speculation that County Records might find the charges unreasonable and appeal the decision to the Nebraska Attorney General.
"These companies profit from the information we supply them, which is okay," said commission chairman Mark Masterton. "This is public information, so people can access it in the way we offer it. We're not going to hire extra personnel to provide them with an alternate way to access the information."
