Raritan Borough has agreed to pay Gannett New Jersey $650,000 in a settlement of a 2009 Open Public Records Act lawsuit.
RARITAN -- The borough has agreed to pay Gannett New Jersey $650,000 to settle a 2009 lawsuit filed after borough officials denied a reporter's Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for electronically maintained municipal salary information, according to a report on mycentraljersey.com.
The settlement amount is said to be one of the largest, if not the largest, in an OPRA case in New Jersey. On Tuesday, the borough council voted unanimously to settle the suit over access to employee salary and overtime information, according to the report.
Judge rules against Raritan Borough
The newspaper chain wanted the data in an electronic format in order to compare and analyze salary information among many municipalities. After initially denying the existence of the records, the borough sought to collect a $1,100 service charge to convert the data, according to the report. During a 2012 trial, Gannett proved that the borough had access to the records in the format requested through a third-party payroll vendor.
In April 2014, Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone ordered that the borough pay more than $590,000 in legal fees incurred by Gannett New Jersey. The law allows plaintiffs to seek legal fees from government agencies that were found to have improperly denied access to government records, according to the report.
Mayor Charles McMullin, who was sworn in in January, said at the time that settling the suit was a top priority.
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.