Records Request

Stephen Bauchum, General Counsel

Copies of opinions may be obtained by emailing BOTA.MailDesk@ks.gov. An open records act request is NOT required to obtain copies of Board of Tax Appeals’ opinions. The requested copies of opinions will be provided within five (5) business days.

One (1) record request in a twelve (12) month period that can be provided with less than one hour of staff time or which is less than 25 pages will be provided at no charge.
Any request that requires in excess of one hour of staff time or is more than 25 pages, or any additional requests within a twelve (12) month period will be subject to the applicable fee schedule.

For requests exceeding one hour of staff time or that are more than 25 pages in length, the following fees shall apply:

• COPIES will be charged at a rate of $0.25 per page for paper copies or $0.125 per page for electronic copies;
• MAILING will be done through U.S. Mail and charged at the estimated cost of first class postage; if delivery is requested by other means (FedEx, DHL, etc.) the requestor is responsible for arranging pickup and payment of all associated fees;
• FAXES will be charged at $0.65 per ten (10) pages;
• STAFF TIME will be charged at the rate of pay for each person(s) whose time is used in order to assist and/or respond to a specific request. This includes, but is not limited to, time spent to access records maintained in or on computer facilities or equipment, review of records to determine whether closure exceptions apply and/or whether redaction is required and time required to redact records. For most requests, time will be charged as follows:
  o Clerical time: $18 per hour;
  o Staff Attorney time: $35 per hour;
  o General Counsel time: $50 per hour;
  o IT Services Time: $35 per hour;
  o Board Member time: $65 per hour;
  o Time for other classifications of employees will be charged based upon actual costs.

Additional fees, including other costs incurred by the agency in complying with a record request, may be assessed to the requestor.

The Agency will provide the requestor with an estimate of the fees before gathering, processing, or providing access to the records. The estimated fees MUST BE PAID BEFORE the Agency will process the request or provide access to the requested records.

While the Agency does its best to provide an accurate estimate of the fee, it is possible that records may be produced for LESS than the estimated amount. In that event, any excess fees paid will be refunded.

It is also possible, however, that the Agency will begin processing a request and determine that the original estimate of time necessary to complete the request was too low. If the Agency discovers that the original estimated fee was too low, the Agency will promptly advise the requestor of any correction to the fee and will request advance payment of any additional costs before continuing the work. In this event, the additional fees estimated must be paid before the Agency will continue processing the request.

Payment may be made by check or money order payable to the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, or by credit card through the KanPay payment portal. Returned checks will incur an additional fee of $30.00. Individuals wishing to pay by credit card must email the Agency at BOTA.MailDesk@ks.gov to request access to the secure payment portal.

To ensure that any request is clearly understood, the Agency requires requests for information or copies of records to be made IN WRITING. All records for requests MUST state:

• The requestor’s name;
• Mailing address;
• A phone number where the requestor can be contacted; and
• Detailed information about the records being requested. The more detailed the information given about the request, the better the Agency can determine whether the requested records exist and are in the Agency’s possession, how best to retrieve said records, and the cost to provide said records.

For the convenience of requestors, a form that may be used to make the request is attached at the end of this policy. This form is NOT required to be used.

Requests may be mailed to the Agency at:
Records Custodian
Kansas Board of Tax Appeals
Eisenhower State Office Building
700 S.W. Harrison St., 10th Floor
Topeka, Kansas 66603
or may be emailed to the Agency at BOTA.MailDesk@ks.gov.

If air express delivery is requested, the requestor MUST arrange for a pick up and packaging of the records and ALL associated costs for such delivery MUST be paid by the requestor.

The agency records custodian has the sole discretion as to whether to honor a request for fax or air express delivery.

The records custodian will be the sole judge of the ability of the Agency to comply with any request for records to be provided in an electronic format or for records that must be produced in a special computer-generated format.

The Agency endeavors to act upon requests as soon as possible.  The Agency will verify receipt of the request within three (3) business days.  Some requests may be made available to the requestor no later than the third business day following the receipt of the request. Pursuant to K.S.A. 45-218(d), if it appears that additional time will be needed to process the request, fees will be assessed, or redaction is necessary, a written response will be provided to the requestor as soon as possible indicating the fee(s) required and the earliest time and date the requested item(s) will be available.

Click to view Policy

Click to view Guide to Open Records