| FUND: GENERAL |
GOVERNMENTAL SERVICES |
Mark Ladd, Register of Deeds
The Register of Deeds office is established in the constitution of the State of Wisconsin with its duties prescribed by State Statutes, predominately section 59.43. The office is the custodian of real estate recordings, vital records and Uniform Commercial Code filings for Racine County. The real estate records maintained in the office form the foundation of the County's Geographic Information System, which is maintained by the Planning & Development Department.
One of our goals for this year was to smoothly, efficiently and cost-effectively record the 60,000-plus documents presented for recording. Although the office is currently staffed to process 200 real estate documents each day, the actual number of documents being presented is in excess of 300 per day.
We successfully implemented an Internet-based solution for processing credit card payments for Vital Records requests. We are currently averaging 4-5 orders on this system per week. Staff feels the “expedited service fee” of $10 that we charge for this service may be a barrier to some customers. Staff estimates that the utilization of this system would easily double if the service fee were eliminated.
Our Electronic Recording System went live on January 15, 2003. We are currently on pace to record 1800 electronic documents this year. Discussions are continuing with additional local, regional and national lenders to increase the utilization of this system.
