PORT ALLEN — The West Baton Rouge Parish Council on Thursday will consider a resolution supporting the parish president's plan to charge four times as much as the state does for copies of public records.

The West Baton Rouge Independent reported Wednesday that the parish plans to charge $1 per page for the first 25 pages created to comply with a public records request. The state of Louisiana charges a quarter per page. The WBR rate would drop to 50 cents for pages 26-500.

Parish President Jason Manola also intends to require a deposit of 75 percent of the fees before pulling the records.

State law and case law require that open records fees be "reasonable" and cover only the cost of complying with requests; governments cannot set them in an effort to produce income. 

For a request generating 25 pages, West Baton Rouge Parish residents would pay $25 while a similar request to the state would cost $6.25 — a four-fold increase. A 500-page request would cost $262.50 in West Baton Rouge Parish and $125 at the state.

Also, for an open records request totaling 500 pages, the person requesting the documents would be required to pay $197 upfront.

The council is scheduled to meet Thursday at 5:30 p.m.