Recently as I’ve been talking with people I’ve had a few of the same questions asked so I thought I’d share these questions and answers with you.
Question #1
What is the subscription based records access that the recorder is stating generates revenue?
The subscription based records access is a fee based internet portal to access the records of the recorder’s office. This program is used by Title, Appraisers, Mortgage, Surveyor, Law and other land and real estate professionals. These professions use this subscription service and pay a fee to access the records and that fee is passed along to their clients as a cost of doing business. Who are their clients? We the citizens of Davis County are the clients & are the ones who end up paying the subscription fees when we use the above services. These fees do not go to the recorder’s office as revenue; they show up as an Information Systems department revenue resource.
Question #2
Where do the funds come from for the operations of the Recorder’s office?
The operating revenue funds for the Recorder’s office come from recording fees that are collected at the time of recording of a document. These are fees for indexing, storage, retrieval and protecting the records. These fees are for the benefit of maintaining the records and should not be turned over to the general fund.
Question #3
Is it true that UCA 57-10-11, the new law requiring the conversion of the Davis County Survey coordinate system to Utah State Plane coordinates is unfunded?
I do not believe UCA 57-10-11 is unfunded for the following reason. On May 14, 2019 the day UCA 57-10-11 became law there was an increase of 400% in the recording fees of a single page document. The 2019 budget for the Recorder’s office revenue was projected at $1,500,000 and the actual revenue received was $2,812,223.50. The 2020 budget for the Recorder’s office revenue is projected at $2,500,000. These two budget years have a projected operating expense of $1,500,000 which leaves a surplus of recording fees to fund the conversion process within the department.
Question #4
How is the Davis County Recorder saving the tax payers of Davis County $150,000 a year in postage?
To answer this question we need to go back many years ago. At that time when a document was recorded the originals were kept and returned via mail the next day after it was imaged and/or microfilmed. Many other counties would copy and return the documents at the time of recording, thus saving return postage. With the modern day advent of e-recording the documents are presented and accepted in a digital image format for recording with no paper originals to require return postage, which is where the savings come from. These savings are a result of the digital era. The Recorder’s Office is self funded through recording fees collected at the time of recording and should not need to rely on the general fund or tax payer dollars to cover the operation expenses of the office.