Costs of Recording Documents to Be Cut

The costs of recording documents, including property transfers and financial transactions, will be sliced about in half beginning Sept. 1.

County supervisors Tuesday approved dropping basic recording fees from $7 to $4 at the request of county Clerk-Recorder Gary Granville. He said the $3 difference, authorized by the state Legislature in 1984, has created a pool of about $10 million that will be used for technological improvements.

Thanks to the fee, the county has enough money stockpiled to make the changes it needs, including converting all document retrieval to CD-ROM computer disks, Granville said. County supervisors agreed, approving the fee reductions unanimously without comment.

The recorder’s office already is a money-generator for the county. It sends sends about $4.5 million each year to the county general fund from fees. Documents processed by the office include birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and business forms.

The county will continue to collect about $500,000 a year to cover equipment maintenance contracts.