Relating to county recorder fees and land record information systems management

Description

House File 1031 does the following:

• Increases the fee for each page or fraction of a page of a document filed or recorded from $5 to $10 and limits the maximum recording fee for a document with 25 pages or more to $250.
• Removes the requirement for a county recorder to collect a $1 fee for each transaction that is deposited into a County Recorder’s Record Management Fund and repeals the Fund.
• Requires that $2 collected from the recording fee be deposited into a County Recorder’s Technology Advancement Fund created by the Bill and provides requirements for how those moneys can be used. Interest earned by moneys in the Technology Advancement Fund is to be credited to the Fund.
• Requires the county treasurer to establish and maintain a County Recorder’s Electronic Services System (ESS) Fund into which $3 from the recording fees collected by county recorders participating in a 28E agreement is to be deposited.
• Requires a county not participating in the shared statewide search website to deposit $1 per document filed or recorded into the County Recorder’s Electronic Transaction Fund.
• Eliminates the Local Government Electronic Transaction Fund and transfers the remaining balance of the Fund to the Treasurer of State to assist the governing board of the ESS in accomplishing the purposes outlined in the Bill.
• Transfers any remaining moneys in the County Recorder’s Records Management Fund to the respective County Recorder’s Technology Advancement Fund.

The Bill requires each county to upload data and images or recorded documents to the statewide search website and requires the vendor of the website to allow for uploading from each county’s recording software provider or link to a county’s search if applicable. The Bill removes the requirement for counties to enter into a 28E agreement with other counties to implement the county land record information system, and instead allows county boards of supervisors to enter a 28E agreement with the ESS created by the Bill. The Bill requires the Iowa County Recorders Association to issue a request for proposals (RFP) in 2030, and every five years thereafter, to explore alternative platforms for the statewide search website for viewing county public land records and allows county recorders to vote to approve or change the vendor used. County recorders are required to make available any information that is required by a county or State auditor concerning the fees collected for the purpose of determining the amount of fees collected and the uses of the fees expended. Any county is authorized to withdraw from the 28E agreement unconditionally at any time upon the approval of the county board of supervisors; however, any county that withdraws is required to allow for the flow of electronic documents from the ESS.

The Bill also amends provisions relating to the access of certain personally identifiable information and provisions regarding the formatting of documents and surveys submitted for filing or recording and makes conforming changes.

Background

Currently, a county recorder is required to collect a fee of $5 for each page or fraction of a page that is filed or recorded and collects the fee for each transaction made. A fee of $1 is also collected for each transaction for which a fee is paid and is to be used for the preservation and maintenance of public records. The fees collected are deposited into a County Recorder’s Electronic Management Fund. Counties are also required to participate in the county land record information system and are required to comply with the policies set forth by the governing board of that system.

An additional fee of $1 is required to be collected from each recorded transaction and to be deposited into a County Recorder’s Electronic Transaction Fund. The Treasurer of State is then required to pay the fees collected into the Local Government Electronic Transaction Fund, which is to be used by the Treasurer of State to pay for expenditures related to planning and implementing electronic recording and electronic transactions in each county, developing county and statewide Internet sites to provide electronic access to records and information, and paying the ongoing costs of integrating and maintaining the statewide Internet site. Figure 1 shows the revenue collected by fees under current law.

Figure 1 — Fees Collected Under Current Law 2025

Recorded

Documents

2025 Actual

Recorded

Pages

Estimated

2025 $5-Per-

Page Fee

$1 County

Recorder’s Record

Management Per-

Document Fee

$1 County Recorder’s

Electronic

Transaction Per-

Document Fee Total

536,574 2,358,141 $11,790,705 $536,574 $536,574 $12,863,853

Assumptions

• It is assumed that the number of pages recorded will be 2,358,141, similar to FY 2025, and a $10 fee will be collected per page. This revenue is deposited into a county’s general fund.
• It is assumed that the number of documents recorded will be 536,574, similar to FY 2025, and a $2 allocation to County Recorder’s technology advancement funds, and a $3 allocation to the County Recorder’s ESS Funds will be made per document.
• All counties will participate in a 28E agreement and will deposit $3 per transaction into the County Recorder’s ESS Fund.
• There will be a reduction in fee revenue collected due to the loss of additional transaction fees collected.
• There will be an estimated reduction of collected revenue of approximately $210,000 due to the limit of $250 for the recording fee collected.

Fiscal Impact

Figure 2 shows fees that would be collected under HF 1031 beginning in FY 2027. Figure 2 — Estimated Fees Under HF 1031 2025

Recorded

Documents

2025 Actual

Recorded

Documents

Estimated

$10-Per-

Page Fee

Estimated $2 County

Recorder’s Technology

Advancement Fund Per-

Document Fee

Estimated $3

County

Recorder’s ESS

Fund Per-

Document Fee Estimated Total

536,574 2,358,141 $23,581,410 $1,073,148 $1,609,722 $26,264,280 Figure 3 shows the estimated total increase in county general fund revenues compared to current law after allocations of per-document fees and lost additional transaction fee revenue. Figure 3 — Estimated Fee Revenues and Allocations under HF 1031 $5-Per-Page Fee Increase $ 11,790,705 $2-Per-Document Allocation County Recorder’s Technology Advancement Funds -1,073,148 $3-Per-Document Allocation County Recorder’s ESS Funds -1,609,722 Additional Transaction Fee -45,825 Revenue Loss Due to $250 Cap -196,010 County General Funds $ 8,866,010 House File 1031 is estimated to increase county general fund revenues by approximately $8.9 million annually, to allocate approximately $1.1 million in revenue to County Recorder’s Technology Advancement Funds, and to allocate approximately $1.6 million in revenue to County Recorder’s ESS Funds annually beginning in FY 2027.

There may be a decrease in revenue collected for County Recorder’s ESS Funds due to counties not participating in the shared statewide search website 28E agreement, but this decrease is unknown.

Sources

• Legislative Services Agency calculations
• Iowa County Land Records
• Iowa State Association of Counties