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Story County recorder's office reviews budget, records-management fund and digitization progress
Summary
Recorder Stacy Harridge briefed the Story County Board of Supervisors in a budget work session on revenues, a records-management fund balance of $84,000, recent spending on back-scanning (about $34,370 plus $15,000 in ARPA), a small postage savings, and a request for supervisors’ support on a proposed fee increase.
Recorder Stacy Harridge outlined the recorder’s office budget and records-management activities at a Story County Board of Supervisors work session, saying the office’s revenues typically exceed its expenses and that a dedicated records-management fund has a balance of $84,000.
Harridge told the board the office spent $34,370 on back-scanning and digitization in the last period on top of $15,000 previously allocated from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. “I always call it, like, the recorder’s piggy bank,” Harridge said of the fund, which she said is supported by a dollar fee on each recorded document and limited by a code section she cited during the meeting.
The meeting focused on how the fund will be used going forward. Harridge said the office expects to budget about $7,000 next year to finish remaining tasks, including repairs to a few historic books in disrepair. She described the scanning work as near completion and said many records are now available online in a system she identified as the CART OID system, which the recorder’s office shares with the auditor’s office and for which the office pays a portion of the monthly subscription cost.
Harridge also noted a small recent postage rate decrease for passport mailings that will reduce costs slightly. “It’ll save us, like, $72,” she said.
Board members asked clarifying questions about the records-management spending and the fund’s uses. Supervisor Lisa Haddens asked whether the large drop in a records-management line item—from about $34,000 to $7,000—reflected prior ARPA or other allocated funds; Harridge confirmed the larger amount had been spent and the smaller amount represented the upcoming budgeted expense. Deputy Recorder Jim Cheek and other staff answered procedural questions about the backlog and ongoing digitization efforts.
Harridge asked supervisors to support a legislative proposal to increase recorder fees, similar to a proposal the treasurer pursued the previous year. She said the office was encountering “a little bit of headwinds” on that legislative push and asked supervisors attending an upcoming supervisors meeting to encourage their colleagues to back the proposal.
No formal motions or votes were recorded during the work session; the discussion remained at the informational and budget-review level.
Context: Harridge described the records-management fund as governed by a code provision she cited in the meeting (referenced in the transcript as "331604 2 parent 2") and said the fund may be used for digitizing, repairs and historic-record preservation. She noted that the recorder’s office is one of the county departments whose revenues exceed expenses and that excess revenues flow to the county’s general fund.
