Wasco County raises public land corner fee to support remonumentation; waives fee for death certificates

Wasco County adopted Ordinance 26-001 on March 18, 2026, repealing and replacing Ordinance 94-376 to modernize management of the Public Land Corner Preservation Fund following state legislation (House Bill 3175) that removed the $10 statutory cap on recording fees. County Surveyor Brad Cross and staff explained the fund supports re-establishment and maintenance of government survey corners (PLSS) that control property boundaries and that the true cost to restore a single corner is typically about $2,000 in staff time and equipment.

Cross told the Board that the $10 fee in place since the 1990s no longer covers costs; he proposed increasing the fee to $28 to account for inflation and lower recording volumes. County Clerk Chrissy Zaugg supported the increase but asked the Board to exempt recorded death certificates on compassionate grounds, noting that death certificates often are recorded during probate and that exempting them would relieve financial burden on grieving families while not materially reducing fund revenues. The Board adopted the ordinance with the requested waiver for all recorded death certificates; the ordinance takes effect 90 days after the second reading and recording procedures are implemented through the County Clerk and Finance Department.

The ordinance requires the Clerk to deposit collected fees monthly to the Public Land Corner Preservation Account, and directs that monies be used only for corner establishment, reestablishment and maintenance as authorized by the County Surveyor. Cross said the county anticipates drawing roughly $55,000 annually from the fund to ramp up prioritized remonumentation work.