Circuit Court Clerk seeks savings through digitization, requests using local fees for equipment

The Circuit Court Clerk explained a modest reduction in her office's budget and laid out why certain fees can now be retained locally to pay for equipment and maintenance. The clerk said she combined and reduced line items and plans to buy equipment at low cost through a Supreme Court procurement program that includes maintenance and supplies. "When I started offering secure remote access to land records...what I'm ending up paying now is $85 a book to have these things digitized," she said, describing a vendor arrangement she said saved substantial capital expense.