Bend plans to make an important change in how the police charge for police reports. It will help with one problem, but there are bigger problems it does not address.

The Bend City Council is scheduled to tweak some fees at its Wednesday meeting. One change the city proposes is to specify a charge of $13 per 15 minutes of time spent redacting requested police reports.

The fee isn’t exactly new, though it is described as “new” in city documents. That’s because the Bend Police Department does charge fees. This policy change standardizes the rate. That’s an improvement that gives the public a better understanding of what to expect and ensures the department treats requesters equally.

Police reports can contain personal information that the police are allowed to redact under Oregon law. Bend’s general policy is to charge a fee based on the salary and benefits of the person doing the work. So that would mean the average redactor makes just over $100,000 a year in salary and benefits.

Police Chief Jim Porter said police reports can vary in size. A shooting may include 1,000 pages of documents and many photos. A file that size can take more than two working days to review. Many police reports, though, are only a few pages long. Bend police received 3,561 requests for police reports in 2017, Porter said.

The challenge with public information is how governments deal with it. When they want you to know something, it’s free and easy to get. When they don’t, there can be delay, denial or fees that can block the public’s ability to access public records.

Any debate over public records usually begins with everybody agreeing that transparency and accountability are a fundamental part of good government and access to public records is vital.

Then comes the “buts.” Governments in Oregon argue there is a cost and burden to providing the public with access to that information. They see it as fair to charge for providing for that service. But charging for public information means some people may not be able to afford it. If the document is only a few pages, maybe the charge won’t be that much.

What if you were concerned about a shooting incident and wanted to better understand what happened? It could cost $1,000 or more under this fee. That’s like a wall between the public and public information.

Consider another problem: Let’s say Joe requests the report for the shooting and pays the $1,000. Bob wants the report, too. The police have already redacted the report for Joe, so should Bob have to pay nothing or should he pay $500 and the police hunt Joe down to give him half his money back?

One answer is for governments to routinely publish more documents online. Providing the public with public information is not a bonus that should cost the public more. Transparency and accountability are a fundamental responsibility of government.