A Michigan community college’s response to a public records request has raised eyebrows after demanding nearly $29 million to fulfill the inquiry. Attorney Mark Randazza shared details of the incident on X, revealing that his client’s request to Mott Community College in Flint resulted in an astronomical fee estimate, despite the institution’s annual revenue of $95 million. “A client of mine made a public records request of a community college in Flint Michigan that has an annual revenue of $95 million.
To respond to her public records request… they want $29 million,” Randazza posted on Tuesday. The response, penned by Leo Powers, assistant to the college’s general counsel, outlined a staggering cost breakdown. The college estimated that processing the public records request would require 600,000 staff hours at $48.17 per hour for tasks including searching, reviewing, and separating materials. “The College’s good faith estimate of the cost to the College to comply with your request … is $28,904,844.60,” the letter read.
Additional charges included 32 hours for redaction and electronic copy creation, six hours at $70 for departmental review, and 20 more hours at $44.23 for similar purposes. The college demanded a deposit of over $14.4 million before beginning the process, stating, “Therefore, since the cost of complying with your request exceeds $50, the College is permitted to require that a good faith deposit be made before the College begins gathering the material. Therefore, upon receipt of your deposit of $14,452,422.00, we will begin gathering the material.”
The information sought was relatively straightforward: data about the college’s top-performing students, including GPA statistics for the top 10 percent, Phi Theta Kappa honor society eligibility requirements, and related documentation dating back to 2012. In a subsequent exchange, Kristi Dawley, acting associate vice president of human resources, defended the estimate, claiming it was calculated using the lowest possible employee wage rate for the required work.
