Michigan’s public-records law grants residents access to government information, but one journalist says that promise rings hollow after Grand Blanc Township quoted her a combined $164,000 to fulfill two requests. 

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Independent journalist and social media influencer Anna Matson filed two requests under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for Grand Blanc Township records. The quote for fulfilling the requests: $100,000 and $64,000 in fees. 

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“I just knew I had to challenge it,” Matson said, “It was obviously an illegal charge.” 

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FOIA is designed to guarantee the public’s right to access records held by government bodies. Enacted in 1977, FOIA aims to ensure transparency and accountability in public institutions by allowing citizens to inspect or receive copies of most government documents. 

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Michigan’s FOIA allows public bodies to charge only the actual, reasonable costs of locating, reviewing, and separating exempt information from requested records, using the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee capable of doing the work. Agencies may also charge for copying and mailing, but they cannot bill for tasks not authorized under the statute. They may waive fees if releasing the records is in the public interest. 

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According to Grand Blanc Township officials, the quoted price covers the labor and review necessary to complete Matson’s requests. Another charge listed in both FOIA request quotes is an “attorney review” fee. 

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The attorney review accounts for approximately 65% of the $64,000 request. Matson claims that the costs of an attorney review cannot be charged to requestors under the law. 

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Matson believes that the high price quoted to her is primarily meant to dissuade her from obtaining the information. 

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“When a government has nothing to hide, they typically just give me the records for free,” Matson said. 

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Three weeks after the church shooting in the township, which Matson claims she was the first reporter on the scene for, Grand Blanc Fire Chief Jamie Jent was put on administrative leave. Mantson is seeking information about why the fire department took action against Jent. 

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“Giving up is not in my DNA,” Matson explained why she is appealing the fees. “Especially when it comes to our first responders.” 

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Matson is not the only one fighting a FOIA fee battle in Michigan. 

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Renita Bonadies, a Midland community activist, filed a lawsuit against Midland Public Schools (MPS) over the price she was charged after requesting school board meeting packets. 

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Bonadies said she has had to pay more than $1,000 for the board meeting packets in the past four years. In July 2024, Bonadies was charged $305.62 for six months’ worth of meeting materials. 

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Bonadies believes the fees are unjustified, despite the reasoning district officials gave for the cost. MPS administrators stated they needed to perform redactions of sensitive information before it could be publicly released. 

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She has not seen sufficient proof that the requests are burdensome, Bonadies said. She also believes that releasing district information is in the public interest and should be provided for free. 

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“There should have been no charge,” Bonadies said, “We the taxpayers are paying their salaries… didn’t we already pay [them] once to do a job?” 

Recently, according to Bonadies, MPS has begun distributing agenda packets at no cost. This change, however, does not impact Bonadies’s lawsuit. 

Despite the money and time-consuming nature of filing a lawsuit in Midland County Circuit Court, Bonadies won’t back down. She expressed a belief that the hurdles of this process have been a failed attempt to deter the public from asking for information. 

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“They eliminate [the need for] FOIAs by being transparent,” Bonadies said, “All of it is to be public data anyway and requestable. I don’t know why they don’t put as much as they can out there to let us see.” 

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General Counsel to the Michigan Press Association, Jennifer Dukarski, has noticed a pattern of public bodies using FOIA fees to deter people from asking for information. In Michigan, the average cost of a public records request is $5,176, according to the MudRock Foundation. 

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“Very few people can finance a lawsuit and cover the cost to go after a public body,” Dukarski said. 

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Dukarski believes that anyone who is acting as a journalist should always have their fees waived because “the requests are almost always being asked of in the public interest.” 

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Rebecca Pierce, Executive Editor of the Traverse City Record Eagle, echoed a similar sentiment. 

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Pierce believes that the “public interest” provision of the law was specifically meant to protect bodies akin to journalists. She also believes that the fee structure outlined in the FOIA law is being used to prevent journalists and others from obtaining public information. 

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“That’s wrong,” said Pierce, “That’s not what that law was written for.” 

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While there are many incidents where public bodies may seem to be overcharging simply to dissuade people seeking public information, there are real concerns about the cost of fulfilling requests for some public bodies that receive a higher volume of inquiries than others. 

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According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, her office is sometimes overwhelmed with FOIA requests, many of which ask for personal information that cannot be given out to the public. She described a portion of the requests they receive as harassment. 

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Nessel mentioned a spouse of an incarcerated prisoner who has used targeted FOIA requests to harass an attorney assigned to review the conviction. 

“It’s borderline stalking,” said Nessel, “[The requestor] wants her swipe records of every time she swiped into the office, like when she came in, when she left…” 

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“This is not information that is going to be helpful for the public to better understand the work of our office,” Nessel said, “And it’s getting worse and worse.” 

Pierce acknowledged that there are entities that can overwhelm the system. She suggested a compromise: Make a separate channel for journalists–or those who are getting the information for the purpose of informing the public rather than simply for their own gain–to submit FOIA requests, and have those requests be prioritized and free of charge. 

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“My feeling is that what we do as journalists should be something apart,” Pierce said. “We’re not doing this for our personal benefit. We’re doing this for the good of our community and the people that we cover.”