County surveyor urges raising public land corner fee to $30 to preserve 25,000 markers

Klamath County’s surveyor recommended the board increase the fee that funds the county’s Public Land Corner Preservation Program from $10 to $30, saying the rise would cover inflation and allow crews to revisit and permanently monument roughly 25,000 public land corners across the county.

“I am here today to talk to you guys … lay the foundation for an increase to the public land corner preservation fund,” the surveyor said, noting the county began running a contracted corner program recently and has located and replaced original stones dating to the late 1800s. The surveyor added the clerk currently collects the corner fee on recorded documents.

The surveyor told the board the statutory cap that formerly fixed the fee at $10 has been lifted, which has prompted other large, rural counties to raise their fees. The presenter said using the county’s roughly 9,500 annual recordings as a baseline, a $30 fee would allow a “good robust corner preservation program.”

County counsel and staff told the board the change would require an ordinance amendment and the county’s usual public-notice procedures, including hearings and a 90-day waiting period. Commissioners suggested packaging the proposal with other service-fee adjustments and bringing it through the fall fee-setting process so the public can comment.

The surveyor also recommended removing death certificates from the list of documents on which the fee is collected; staff supported that change.

What happens next: staff will include the proposed fee change in the county’s fee-setting process later this year and return with ordinance language, public-notice scheduling and an implementation date if the board directs staff to proceed.