From County Auditor Milene Henley
Fees for recording documents with the County will be changing September 1.
During the 2012 legislative session, the Washington State Legislature passed legislation which changes the surcharges collected to support programs for homeless persons. The current surcharge of $30 applies to all recorded documents except assignments or substitutions of previously recorded deeds of trust; documents recording a birth, marriage, divorce or death; or any document otherwise exempted from a recording fee under state law. The new surcharge which will begin September 1 will be $40 and will apply only to “documents related to real property,” with the same exceptions as previously detailed.
As a result of these changes, the total recording fee for general recorded documents will be either $32 for the first page if the document is not related to real property, or $72 for the first page if the document is property-related. Auditor’s Office staff will determine the fee to be assessed based on the document title and the presence of a legal description or tax parcel number on the document. Second and subsequent pages remain $1 per page.
Documents submitted without the correct payment amount will be returned.
For a schedule of updated fees, contact Kira Sable in the Auditor’s Office at kiras@sanjuanco.com or (360) 378-2161.
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We pay our county workers to work and now we are expected to pay them twice? Once with our county taxes. Which aren’t reflecting the real value of our property in current times. And now we will be charged to double pay them to do the job they were hired to do? I don’t understand?
I do understand the concept of cost recovery via fees, but here the County doesn’t seem to be able to keep the money–what is the connection between these recording costs and “homelessness”? If the County doesn’t get the money to put in its general fund, where does it go?
I do understand the concept of cost recovery via fees, but here the County doesn’t seem to be able to keep the money–what is the connection between these recording costs and “homelessness”? If the County doesn’t get the money to put in its general fund, where does it go? And $72 for recording–something you don’t have the option to ignore–is a lot of money.