Peoria County Voters have two referendums on the ballot that stand to make some changes in local government. One asks voters whether the Recorder of Deeds Office should be eliminated as of December 2016. It would effectively mean the County has one less elected official.
The Peoria County Recorder of Deeds Office has records dating back to 1811 providing details on roughly 80,000 pieces of property.
If the Recorder of Deeds referendum passes the Peoria County Clerk would take over functions of the office. Peoria County Recorder Nancy Horton says,“one of these days when everything is computerized that would probably be a good idea.”
Horton says the seven full time people in her office are computerizing 160 years of property records. She says records dating back to 1988 are prepared for online access next year. But Horton says that’s not all. “If you bought a house your deed is filed here in this office. We keep track of the chain of title, which means any transaction that goes with that property we have record of. It’s our responsibility to make sure it’s an accurately record. There’s 300 different types of documents filed in this office.”Horton, a Republican, says the office holds legal documents for the $11 Billion of real estate in Peoria County.
Fellow Republican and Peoria County Board Member Stephen Morris wanted the referendum on the ballot. He says in part because the county is struggling for a balanced budget. “Will we save a $100,000 or $200,000? I don’t know. But I get to vote on how much gets allocated to the Recorder’s office and if we have one or two fewer people, I know what the budget was before. I know what I’m going vote to make the budget moving forward. We’re not going to jeopardize the quality that’s offered by that office, the value that’s offered to the citizens”
But Horton, Peoria County’s current Recorder says the pretense of saving money has not been the case in Tazewell and McLean Counties. “They did it a year, two years ago. Both of those county clerks are up for re-election and neither one of them are running on the proposition any money has been saved. Now, in today’s climate if that were the case that is the first thing they would be saying.”
Regardless, the idea of smaller government is appealing to other Illinois counties. Morris says a position like Recorder can be handled within the Clerk’s office, electing one, instead of two, to be accountable.
“79 out of the 102 counties by statute already have them combined and three more have put it on the ballot and voted for it, should give you some indication that not everyone, but some voters like the concept of removing a position that while it may have been very important in 1880, it doesn’t have the same importance now.” Morris says the recording function remains important but the elected position has no special requirements and is largely ceremonial.
If the referendum passes, Peoria County Clerk Steve Sonnemaker’s office would absorb the recorder’s office. “When you’re dealing with people’s records, whether it’s birth certificates, marriage licenses or real estate you can’t afford to make mistakes with that. That can cause havoc is someone's life. Those are very, very important duties and they need to have proper attention. I am not saying they won’t obviously! But it’ll make it a little more difficult particularly around election time when we’re already stretched pretty thin.”
But the responsibilities of county elections in the clerk’s office could also be moved to a stand alone election commission if the other county-wide referendum is approved Tuesday.