Recorder and clerk outline automation purchases, microfilm conversion and staffing costs

Recorder and county clerk staff presented automation and technology spending plans on June 23, describing both routine monthly automation costs and larger one-time projects.

The county recorder reported ongoing monthly charges for off-site document storage and recording software (roughly $1,100 per month for recording software plus quarterly off-site storage fees) and said online-document fees paid by title searchers provide additional automation revenue. Recorder staff said they plan to put a microfilm-conversion bid out using unspent ARPA funds that were previously approved for microfilm work; the recorder indicated the ARPA balance available for the microfilm project is smaller than the total estimated cost and that additional funds may be required.

The county clerk discussed automation funding for vital-records and voter-registration software. The clerk plans to move from the current vendor to a new vendor for a modern vital-records system that also supports filing statements of economic interest and business names; the clerk said the expected first-year licensing and conversion costs will be paid from the clerk's automation fund. The clerk cautioned that automation-fund balances depend on receipts from online services and that some automation purchases will materially reduce the fund balance this year.

Both offices said they use automation funds for recurring payments (software, storage) and occasional capital work (microfilm conversion, system upgrades). The recorder said the office has about $18,000 left from an ARPA allocation for microfilm and intends to seek bids for five years of conversion work; the recorder noted the anticipated cost likely exceeds that leftover ARPA sum.

Committee members asked for clearer reconciled fund balances and requested monthly reconciled reports from the treasurer to provide precise automation-fund figures during final budget decisions.