CLARION, Pa. — An annual report issued by Clarion County Register and Recorder Greg Mortimer shows a sharp decline in office recordings, probate/Orphans’ Court filings, and marriage licenses in 2018 compared to previous years.
Mortimer attributes the decline in office filings possibly to changing county demographics which includes an aging population and the exodus of younger residents from the area.
At the same time, revenue to the office saw a sizable increase buoyed by a large increase in inheritance tax commissions from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as probate fees paid on larger estates filed in the office.
“Inheritance tax commissions are paid from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the Clarion County Register and Recorder’s Office based on a small percentage of the inheritance tax collected on estates filed in Clarion County and remitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Likewise, probate fees are paid to the Register and Recorder’s Office based on the monetary size of the assets of a deceased county resident when their estate is probated in the office,” Mortimer explained.
“County revenue collected by the office jumped in 2018 to $251,433.09 from the $226.097.98 logged in 2017. Office expenditures for office operations were budgeted at $212,498.97 in 2018 which permitted the office to pad the county treasury with an approximate $39,000.00 surplus in revenue over expenditures.” Mortimer stated.
This is the office’s 31st annual surplus given to the county treasury since Mortimer was elected to the office beginning in 1988.
“Recordings in the office have been on a downward slide since 2003 when 8,199 were recorded at the height of the housing and low-interest mortgage refinancing boom. The 4,315 recordings in 2018 are down 48% from the all-time high, and one of the lowest number of yearly recordings since I assumed office in 1988,” Mortimer noted.
The breakdown of the 4,315 documents recorded in 2018 included 1,334 deeds, 992 mortgages and assignment of rents, 1,049 satisfaction of mortgages, 230 lease related documents, 125 right-of-ways and easements, 231 mortgage adjustments, 97 subdivisions, 52 notary bonds and commissions, 61 power-of-attorneys, 39 finance statements, and 105 miscellaneous filings.
In addition, the number of marriage licenses issued in 2018 plummeted from 250 in 2017 to 207 in 2018. Likewise, the number of Register of Wills and Orphans’ Court case file openings fell from 320 in 2017 to 272 in 2018. The marriage licenses issued in 2018 are also the lowest number of licenses issued by the office since Mortimer’s tenure in office began 31 years ago.
Total collections in the office for 2018 included (2017 collections noted in parenthesis):
- Clarion County General Fund-$251,433.09 ($226,097.98)
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania–$155,361.75 ($149,809.75)
- Clarion County Records Improvement Fund–$8,629.25 ($9,240.00)
- Clarion County Recorders Improvement Fund–$12,945.00 ($13,860.00)
- Registers/Clerks Automation Fund–$2,175.00 ($2,470.00)
- Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Collections–$3,354,600.40 ($1,320,457.37)
- Pennsylvania Realty Transfer Tax Collections–$642,613.19 ($698,514.02)
- Local School Realty Transfer Tax Collections–$328,287.30 ($358,810.24)
- Local Municipal Realty Transfer Tax Collections–$314,744.73 ($340,781.69)
- Act 34 Adoption Fund–$1.125.00 ($1,050.00)
Mortimer noted several office developments over the past year including the elimination of part-time staff to cut office expenses, a collaboration with the County Treasurer’s Office to place college interns from Clarion University in the two row offices to perform special office projects at no cost to the county; the completion of an additional phase of a back-indexing and scanning project of recorded documents spanning the years of 1911 thru 1920; and the institution of a new guardianship tracking system for all active guardianships in the county as mandated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
