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Lincoln County clerk's office flags higher Laserfiche, GIS costs as state fee change lifts recording-fee projections
Summary
At a county budget session staff said annual costs tied to document-archiving and a recent GIS invoice explain a jump in professional-services spending and that state law HB192’s increase in recording-page fees is already inflating revenue projections for Fund 2393 (records preservation).
Lincoln County staff reviewed proposed budget lines for the clerk and recorder’s office and identified higher professional-services spending tied mainly to document-archiving (Laserfiche) and a recent GIS/ESRI addressing update. The presenter said those invoices, plus a late-arriving Laserfiche bill, will push the clerk’s office a little over its original estimate for the year.
The discussion also covered Fund 2393, the county’s records-preservation account, which automatically receives a percentage of recording fees. Staff reported the fund currently shows a rolling balance (about $18,000) and said they will refine budget reports to make the relationship between recording revenues and Fund 2393 clearer.
Participants noted a change under a recently passed state bill referred to in the meeting as HB192 that will adjust recording fees to $20 for the first page and $10 for each additional page; staff said the change is already being reflected in projection spreadsheets. The presenter said spreadsheet projections discussed in the meeting ranged around a mid-five-figure to low six-figure amount and could be higher depending on first- vs. second-page counts.
Officials asked finance staff to ensure departmental recording fees are coded separately in Black Mountain (the county’s financial system) so individual departments’ revenues and budget lines do not appear pooled under a single line. That separation was raised as important for accurately matching revenue to the department that generated it.
The clerk’s office staff also reported a forthcoming vacancy and said the addressing/GIS duties are temporarily assigned to planning/GIS; the job advertisement lists a $7,000 annual stipend for that duty. No formal votes or budget approvals occurred during the segment; staff said they will return with updated election-related and clerk budget detail at a later meeting.
The clerk and recorder requested that the county’s election administrator be present for a separate discussion on elections-related budget assumptions, and staff agreed to produce clearer printouts of revenue and expenditure flows so the board can reconcile projected recording fees with the amounts routed to Fund 2393.
The meeting recessed and picked up Treasury Department budget items later in the afternoon.
