From staff reports
For the 33rd year, the office of the Clarion County Register and Recorder and Clerk of Courts has turned over a surplus to the county treasury.
According to Greg Mortimer, the county’s register and recorder, county revenue collected by the county was up from $259,254.93 in 2019 to $283,080.91 in 2020 – a 9% increase.
“With office expenditures amounting to $213,965.33 this past year and office revenue logging in at $283,080.91, the 2020 office surplus given to the county treasury powered-up to $69,115.58 which is one of the largest office surpluses in many years,
“This is the first time since 2003 that the office has seen a large increase in document filings on a year-to-year basis, with 4,861 recordings filed with the Recorder of Deeds Office in 2020 compared to the 4,302 recordings made in 2019,” he said. “That amounts to a 12% increase year over year for office filings.”
Mortimer said the increase could be the result of record-low mortgage interest rates; a more “home-centric population” due to the pandemic, which is concentrating on home and family; and the recent state and national reporting that shows a population moving from larger metropolitan areas to small towns and rural areas over the past year.
According to Mortimer’s report, the number of marriage licenses issued in the county for 2020 fell to 211, from 233 in 2019, but was still above the 207 licenses issued in 2018.
Likewise, the number of Register of Wills and Orphans’ Court case-file openings fell slightly, from 292 in 2019 to 283 in 2020.