BRIDGEWATER — A Somerset County town spent more than $17,000 defending a $5 fee it charged a resident for a compact disc of a council meeting.

Tom Coulter filed a complaint with the New Jersey Government Record Council in October 2008, saying he should pay the actual cost of the CD to get the recording.

The state council this year sided with Coulter and found he should have paid about 96 cents.

Bridgewater paid more than $14,000 in legal fees defending the case. It had to pay $3,500 to Coulter for his legal fees and give him a $4.04 refund.

Coulter says the case shows a lack of common sense.

Township Attorney Alan Grant tells

The Courier News

of Bridgewater the legal fees would have been substantially lower had Coulter settled, as the township had offered.

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