Dumfries budget report: 944% increase in FOIA, miscellaneous revenues in 2020

Apparently, public information doesn’t come cheap in Dumfries.

The town collected $24,000 in revenues from Freedom of Information Act requests, and other miscellaneous fees in the Fiscal Year 2020, which ended June 30. The line item amount represents a 944% increase over what the town had anticipated for the year, which was $2,500, according to a preliminary budget report provided to the town council.

In the Fiscal Year 2018 budget, the town stated it collected $1,397 for the same line item.

Potomac Local News asked town manager, Keith Rogers, about the increase. He declined to explain why the number increased by such a large amount, but did offer this statement via email:

“I assume that the report you reference is an unreconciled, unaudited report that was provided to the Council on June 30th. This report simply provides a snapshot at a given time of spending levels.

Miscellaneous revenue is funding received that is not anticipated or otherwise accounted for. The majority of the funds in this line are related to electronic and credit card payment processing fees.

As is standard, these processing fees are collected at the time of payment and passed on to the credit card and electronic payment vendors.”

Dumfries is one of four towns in Prince William County, including Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico. In Occoquan, FOIA revenues are flat.

“We have not collected any FOIA revenues in FY 2020, according to our Treasurer, and we have not budgeted any for FY 2021,” Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta told Potomac Local News.

Potomac Local News got a similar explanation from a Manassas City spokeswoman, who told PLN the city shows a $0 balance for FOIA requests. PLN got a similar explanation from the Prince William County Government, too.

“The county does not track total FOIA costs collected. Also, FOIA charges reflect the county’s actual costs in responding to FOIA requests, so they are not really anticipated budget revenues,” said Prince William County FOIA officer Rob Skoff.

Virginia law allows public bodies like the Dumfries Town Council to charge reasonable fees to recoup the actual costs incurred for duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records. However, the law prohibits localities from charging more than what it actually costs to make copies of records.

In May, Rogers slapped Potomac Local News with a $400 fee when it requested to see the salaries of the town’s more than 20 employees, including officers and support staff at the town’s police department. This same information had been presented as line items in the town’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget but was excluded the following year.

“We made the change because, when employees knew how much each other made, it caused tension among our employees,” Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood told Potomac Local News.

Councilman Charles Brewer told Potomac Local News that he and five other council members asked Rogers multiple times to provide the town council with the current salary information of town employees, presented in the same line item format that was used in 2019. Rogers has not delivered the information, said Brewer, and Rogers has declined to comment on the matter.

Potomac Local News declined to pay the town’s FOIA fee and has yet to receive employee salary records.

Potomac Local News requested the salary information for all employees of the three other towns in Prince Wiliam County. All three — Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico — provided salary information of all of its employees to Potomac Local News.

No jurisdiction charged a fee.

Reporter Megan Dietrick contributed to this report.