COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Colusa County is among many other California counties to ask the California State Legislature to support proposed legislation to update recording fees to better align with the cost to taxpayers for the county to provide the service.
Colusa County Clerk/Recorder Cristy Edwards said she has looked at every possible revenue stream her three departments could find to help with the increased costs of doing business, but only legislative action can legally change the document recording fees related to home buying, selling, and the real estate industry.
“This fee has not been adjusted since 2010,” Edward said Tuesday, when asking the board to approve a letter to Juan Carillo, Assembly Committee Chair on Local Government.
The letter, signed by the Board of Supervisors Chair Daurice Kalfsbeek Smith, states that absent an adjustment, the ability to provide services, keep an adequate, trained workforce with extremely specialized knowledge, and maintain standards for timeliness and quality are at risk.
“We have already cut 50% of our staff directly resulting from the inadequate funding of our recorder function,” Kalfsbeek-Smith states in the letter. “Additionally, we are using trust funds that are limited and dwindling to augment recorder funds. These funds should be used for archival projects so as not to lose historic records that can never be replaced.”
Most counties have already signed on to support AB 1430, sponsored by Ventura County Assemblyman Steve Bennett. The bill would update the charge for recording the first page of a document from $10 to $15 and additional pages from $3 to $4 to better align with the Consumer Price Index.
“This fee, even with this increase, would still not sufficiently cover our cost, but it would definitely help,” Edwards said.
Edwards, elected Clerk/Recorder in 2022, said that she has reviewed the fees in all three of her departments and would like them to align with inflationary factors, including increases to the State’s minimum wage.
As with all general fund departments, Edwards said charging the proper fees to recoup the cost of recording services helps to free up funds that can be spent on roads and public safety.
“So, that is another reason again that I’ve just been working really hard at trying to find every way I can to recover our cost,” Edwards said.
Edwards said that she is also looking at other recording fees (birth certificate, marriage licenses, election fees, for example) that do not need state legislation to increase but were set up at the cost of providing services, so there would be little or no impact to the county’s general fund.
Edwards said she will present a time study to the Board of Supervisors at a later meeting to assess if adjustments to those fees are necessary.