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Committee hears HB 192 to raise county recording fees; state library seeks added dollar for GIS
Summary
House Bill 192, presented to a Montana legislative committee, would raise county recording fees to $20 for the first page and $10 per additional page and add an automatic inflation adjustment; proponents including county clerks and the Montana State Library testified that current revenue no longer covers costs.
Representative Julie Darling, sponsor of House Bill 192, told a legislative committee in Helena on Oct. 27 that the bill would let county clerks and recorders increase fees for recording deeds, mortgages and other documents to $20 for the first page and $10 for each additional page, and would require a biennial inflation adjustment by the Department of Revenue.
The bill also would raise the portion of the fee deposited into the record preservation fund and—by amendment discussed at the hearing—add $1 of the fee to support the Montana State Library and place that portion under the same inflationary adjustment. Darling said the proposed change is being presented on behalf of the statewide Montana Association of Clerk and Recorders.
The measure was framed by county clerks as a response to rising operational costs that the existing fee structure no longer covers.…
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