HomeMy WebLinkAboutFee Schedule - AdditionCounty Clerk's Office
0 { Nancy Blankenship, County Clerk
June 19, 2009
1300 NW Wall St, Suite 202, Bend, OR 97701 -1960
Fax [541 ] 383 -4424
Recording [541 ] 388 -6549
Elections [541 ] 388 -6547
www. co. deschutes. or. us
To: Board of County Commissioners
From: Nancy Blankenship, Deschutes County Clerk
Re: Fee to Offset Cost of Unfunded Fee Collection Service - Fiscal Year 2009 -2010
Request:
Adopt a fee of $1 per document assessed the Affordable Housing fee of $15 for the fee
collection services provided by the county on behalf of the Oregon Housing and Community
Services Department, as required by ORS 205.323.(1)(c). The $1 fee shall be deposited in the
County Clerk Records Fund (218).
Background:
With the passage of HB 2436, new statutory language in ORS 205.323(1)(c) requires the
County Clerk to collect a fee of $15.00 on behalf of the Oregon Housing and Community
Services Department on only certain recorded instruments.
The County Clerk then transfers all fees collected to the County Treasurer. The new fee must
be deposited in the Assessment and Taxation Funds of the county. The County Treasurer is
then required to pay over moneys in the Assessment & Taxation Fund to the State Treasurer for
deposit into specified accounts of the Oregon Department of Revenue and Housing and
Community Services Department.
The Oregon Association of Counties and County Clerks' requested, without success, that the
Oregon State Legislature and sponsors of the bill allow counties a portion of the fees collected
for the new housing - related fee as is allowed on a previously established recording fee
deposited in the County Assessment and Taxation Fund authorized under ORS 205.320(18).
ORS 205.320(18) states "Notwithstanding any other law, five percent of any fee or tax that is not
collected for the benefit of the county clerk shall be deducted from the fee or tax. The moneys
deducted shall be expended for acquiring storage and retrieval systems, payment of expenses
incurred in collecting the fee or tax and maintaining and restoring records as authorized by the
county clerk. Moneys collected under this subsection shall be deposited in a county clerk
records fund established by the county governing body."
Due to the cost of implementing new fees and the complexity of the proposed new fee there is
little doubt that there will be a significant number of instruments returned to submitters due to
insufficient funds provided when the fee goes into effect. Associated costs include:
1. changes to fee schedules, recording software, the recording website, and other
informational items
2. notices to customers
-1ES
County Clerk's Office
0 .< Nancy Blankenship, County Clerk
June 19, 2009
Page 2
1300 NW Wall St, Suite 202, Bend, OR 97701 -1960
Fax [541 ] 383 -4424
Recording [541 ] 388 -6549
Elections [541 ] 388 -6547
www. co. deschutes. or. us
3. increase in staff time, postage, and related supplies to return unrecorded documents,
along with a written explanation, to customers that submit through the mail with the
incorrect fee
4. training staff to recognize instruments that require the fee and those that do not
ORS 205.320(9), states that the county can implement a fee, "For any service the clerk may be
required or authorized to perform and for which no fee is provided by law, such fees as may
favorably compare with those established by this section for similar services and as may be
established by order or rule of the county court or board of county commissioners."
The proposed fee of $1 for collection services will be utilized to help offset the cost of
implementation via deposit of the proposed fee in the County Clerk Records Fund (218) and to
support the operation and maintenance of the recording programs in that Fund as authorized by
ORS 205.320(18). The fee would become effective 91 days after the legislature adjourns.