Berks County reports $283.3M cash balance; e-filing set to go live Aug. 3 and 1 million records digitized

Berks County’s treasurer and controller presented routine financial reports and operational updates at the May 8 commissioners meeting.

The treasurer reported an opening balance of $287,369,256.97, a balance to clear of $4,036,062.15, and a resulting available balance of $283,333,194.82. The controller said accounts payable totaled $5,370,513.64 and employee payroll for the week was $5,537,425.78, for total cash disbursements of $10,907,939.42.

The prothonotary provided several operational updates: the office will not be resuming passport processing for new applications (renewals can be completed online), residents should use travel.state.gov to find local acceptance facilities such as post offices and some libraries, and the county’s new e-filing and case-management system will go live on August 3. "August 3 is our go live date," the prothonotary said, and thanked the deputy COO and COO for assistance.

The prothonotary also announced the office is nearing a milestone of 1,000,000 digitized historic records, funded from the automation fund rather than general-tax dollars, to preserve decaying records for long-term access.

Procedural business included a motion by Commissioner Santoni to approve the meeting agenda, seconded by the chair; a voice vote was recorded and the motion carried. Commissioner Santoni later moved to adjourn and the chair closed the meeting.

No additional policy votes or contract approvals were recorded on the public transcript during the meeting.