Strangely, the article never posted what the request actually was.

There usually is a fee for the amount of information, or for the scope of the search, lest they get spammed for low value drive-bys.

If the request was “anything anywhere anytime related to X” they could be expensive (millions is incredulous, but expensive).

If the request was “last 9 months arrest records by X” that is more scoped.

The article never says.