You can look at the data for free or pay to get copies.
In Minnesota, government data is public unless state or federal law says otherwise.
Government data is data that is collected, created, received, maintained, or disseminated by any government entity regardless of its physical form, storage media, or conditions of use.
State law allows the county to charge for the cost of creating summary data.
If you make a request for summary data, you will be informed of how much it will cost to create the data and an estimated timeline for producing the data.
The county is not required to produce the summary data if you do not pay for it.
State law allows the county to charge for access to data. The county will charge for data requests that exceed $50.00, including cumulative requests from a single requester/entity within 30 days, except when specific formats are required to produce your data.
You will be notified of any costs related to your data request.
For large requests, you may be asked to make half the payment prior to the county processing your request. Full payment is required prior to the data being released.
If you do not want to pay for the data, you can view the data at no charge.
If you would like to schedule a time to come in a view the responsive data during business hours, you can notify us of that in your request.
When you are not the subject of the data, the county can charge for:
The time an employee spends identifying and compiling responsive data,
The cost providing the data (e.g., electronically, US mail, USB, etc.), and
The cost of providing physical copies of the data, if physical copies are requested.
When you are the subject of the data, the county can charge for:
What to expect when you make a data practices request
The county will begin to process your request when it receives it. If it is determined that your data request will exceed $50, you will be notified.
You can then determine if you want to pay for the cost of the data, view the data at no charge, or cancel your request for data.
Note that the initial cost is an estimate, and the final cost may change. You will be notified of the final cost and be expected to pay for the data, prior to it being released to you.
The county will:
Notify you if data does not exist.
Provide you with the legal citation for not releasing data to you.
In general, provide you with electronic copies in a PDF format.
If requested, explain technical terms, abbreviations, or acronyms found in the data to you.
In situations in which there is a large volume of data, work with you to determine a process for a rolling production.
If you choose to view data or pick up the data, work with you to schedule a time to view or pick up the data during business hours.
State law does not require the county to:
Create or collect new data in response to a data request.
Answer questions submitted as a data request.
Provide data in a specific format or arrangement if the data does not exist in that format or arrangement. For example, if data exists only as a PowerPoint, the county is not required to produce it as a Word document.
