Metro East Sun

A growing number of Madison County board members are aligning behind a plan to eliminate the elected office of the recorder of deeds. 

During a recent county meeting, Bethalto Republican Chrissy Dutton implored fellow board members to “explore the possibility of eliminating the Madison County recorder of deeds office and combine it with the county clerks," according to a press release from the board members.  

Dutton pointed to instances where she argued such consolidation has occurred and worked. She cited the fact that only 16 of 102 Illinois counties have a recorder of deeds office.

“Voters in Cook County, the largest county in the state of Illinois, decided overwhelmingly last year to eliminate the office there,” she said. 

Duties of the recorder of deeds in Cook County will be absorbed into the office of the county clerk starting in 2020.

Dutton also said Winnebago County, with a population approximately the same size of Madison County, is considering such consolidation as well. 

Currently, the recorder of deeds office manages documents related to property transactions, while the county clerk keeps records of county board meetings, maintains tax records, issues official documents such as marriage licenses, maintains records of the county’s vital statistics and conducts elections.

“This is a no brainer as far as I’m concerned,” board member James Futrell (R-East Alton) said in the press release. “The referendum passed by a huge margin in Cook County and I think we should consider eliminating the office here in Madison County as well.”

Godfrey Republican board member Ray Wesley took on the same tone as Futrell.

“If the largest county in the state can eliminate this office, we owe it to the taxpayers to do the same in Madison County,” he said.

By and large, finance committee board members have expressed increasing bewilderment over why the recorder of deeds office has continued to add significant full- and part-time employees despite investing in costly automation expenditures across the office.

“The workload in the recorder's office appears to be about the same as it was 10 years ago," finance committee member Tom McRae (R-Bethalto) said. “It’s odd to me that an office that has become more and more automated would require more and more full- and part-time employees. We definitely should consider eliminating this office.”

Finance board member David Michael (R-Highland) said he is equally perplexed.

“The total cost for this office has exploded over 25 percent just over the last two years,” he said. "Although I’m a CPA, you don’t have to be one to see that the costs of this office are very concerning."