That is strange because when he emailed me when all this started, he said it would be per page. I suggested they do a monthly fee for abstractors that live in MD. When he got back to me he said they would consider it and the message after that was the one that said $500 etc. 

Seems like someone gave you bad information, that never came from the archives office. 

I have been abstracting since the early 90's and this is ridiculous. As abstractors we always are the bottom of the barrel, never raising our fees and now even the state wants to bleed us dry. I am over it myself! I told my clients I would have to pass that fee on to them and they are ok with it, however getting my clients to pay me is another issue.

I just hope they know they will have to add computers back to the counties or they will have a line to use the two computers. It will turn into a mess.