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County clerk forwards Chapter 1 open-records fee schedule and wins approval to raise passport and marriage-license fees
Summary
Marquette County's clerk presented a Chapter 1 ordinance amendment to formalize open-records fees and an updated sheriff section; the committee forwarded the amendment to the county board and approved raising passport-photo fees and marriage-license fees effective in 2027.
Marquette County's executive finance committee voted to forward a Chapter 1 ordinance amendment that establishes an open-records fee schedule and updates a sheriff's section, and it approved two modest fee increases proposed by the county clerk.
County Clerk Kylie explained that the ordinance amendment exists primarily to protect staff time and to provide posted guidance for the public on charges for open-record requests. "It's not as much about generating revenue as it is about protecting us," Kylie said, noting the office receives heavy requests particularly around election season and that a posting requirement will help set expectations for requesters.
The committee discussed the proposal and its purpose; a motion to forward the Chapter 1 amendment and its fee-schedule posting to the full county board passed by voice vote.
Kylie also proposed raising the fee for passport photos from $15 to $20 and increasing the marriage-license fee from $85 to $100, with the increases set to take effect in 2027. She told the committee the passport change would have amounted to roughly $1,000 of additional revenue in 2025 figures and that the increases align county charges with neighboring counties. After a motion and second, members approved the fee changes by voice vote.
In a separate but related outreach step, Kylie said she prepared a sample-ballot narrative, reviewed it with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and arranged for local publication to help voters understand partisan primaries and avoid incorrectly marked ballots. She warned that "crossover voting is not allowed in a partisan primary" and explained how votes cast outside a candidate's party column are counted as "scattering." The clerk asked members to direct confused voters to her office for clarification.
Next steps: The ordinance amendment will go to the full county board for consideration; the clerk will compile departmental fee-increase proposals for the 2027 county-board agenda and continue voter-education outreach through the county website and local paper.
