At a Nov. 18 Lorain County budget work session, the clerk of courts (role stated in the transcript; name not given) briefed commissioners on the office’s special-revenue divisions, an upcoming IT migration and a voluntary transfer to the general fund.

The clerk explained that auto-title is a special-revenue division funded by user fees and is separate from the clerk’s legal/general division. He said the state legislature approved an increase in title-transaction fees from $15 to $18 effective Jan. 1, 2026, but that the $3 increase will go to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Fund. A separate provision allows the county board to adopt an additional $5 fee that would come to the local clerk, but the clerk said the office will not seek that increase.

The clerk told commissioners the auto-title reserve remains substantial even after the office donated $1.1 million to the county’s general fund this year; he said the reserve is generated from user fees such as auto-title transactions and passport/photo fees. "We donated 1,100,000.0," the clerk said, and offered to provide an earlier projection of future donations in May or June to help the board’s tax-budget planning.

On technology, the clerk described the Clerk Computerization Fund as narrowly scoped for hardware, software, maintenance and hosting of case-management systems. He said a new internet-based case-management system will launch in December and that fees will increase to cover maintenance and hosting costs; the court will host both its legal division system and the juvenile-court case-management system on the same servers for cost savings. The clerk also said legislation passed in 2023 removed a prior requirement that the administrative judge sign an order to spend Clerk Computerization funds.

Commissioners and clerk discussed shared services for HR and IT, hardware standardization and the security benefits of consolidating hosting. Commissioners noted the clerk’s cooperation during a prior network breach response and were receptive to earlier projection of donations to soften near-term budget cuts.

Next steps: the clerk will provide projected donation amounts earlier in the tax-budget cycle; commissioners and the clerk will continue discussing shared HR/IT services and timing for any voluntary transfers to the general fund.