1. Marion County Recorder’s Office 2018 Budget Presentation
Good evening Chairman Osili and members of the committee.
It‘s my pleasure to present my second budget to the council, and my first before this committee. With me is my Chief Deputy, Chris Becker.
Kate Sweeney Bell Recorder
September 18, 2017

2. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 1
Overview
Duties & Responsibilities
The primary function of the Recorder’s Office is to maintain permanent public records of the transactions that convey property from one owner to the next, preserving a clear and precise record of property ownership.
The Recorder is charged with maintaining these records in perpetuity and making them available to the public. The office records deeds, mortgages, liens, Doing-Business-As forms, Uniform Commercial Codes, military discharges and other documents for public record.
Two-thirds of recorded documents are either property deeds, mortgages or mortgage releases.
Since this is the first time in many years this office has presented its budget to this committee, I wanted to take a moment to share with you and the community the services our offices provides.
Generally speaking, the Recorder’s Office is responsible for maintaining the county’s land records. Our office collects fees for recording these documents which are then dispersed to several different funds, including the County General Fund.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 1

3. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 2
2017 – 2018 Highlights
Digitization Complete $1.8M contract to digitize records from and replace damaged microfilm. Document indexing will take several years to complete.
Recording Fee Changes New predictable recording fees took effect July 1st. Housing Trust fee ordinance took effect August 1st.
Record Searching Additional remote search services being explored to provide greater access to records in 2018.
Microfilm Inventory A complete inventory and cataloguing of microfilm records is planned for 2018.
In 2015, we began the process of digitizing our oldest records, which were previously only available on microfilm in our office. Some of the film was degraded which could have led to the loss of the records.
In addition to scanning the microfilm, we were able to make digital scans of thousands of original Marion County records that are held permanently at the Indiana State Archives.
Earlier this month, over a million documents dating back to 1935 were added to the seven million that are available online. We anticipate the remaining records dating back to 1821 will be available online early next year. The contract portion of this project was funded exclusively through dedicated funds.
Our office continues to seek efficiency through the use of technology and cross training, and I’m pleased to report these efforts have not only resulted in financial savings, but also enhanced service to our customers.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 2

4. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 3
Document Volume
To get a sense of the volume of records our office manages, we anticipate recording over 142,000 documents this year, slightly more than last year. On average we receive over 560 documents per day.
While the volume of records has steadily increased, the manner in which they’re delivered to our office is increasingly trending toward electronic submissions.
E-recording provides greater efficiency, tracking and cost savings to the submitter.
So far, more than 50% of the documents received in our office this year have been submitted electronically.
Last month, we received nearly 14,000 documents, the largest number in 3 years and 62% of those were received electronically.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 3

5. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 4
Revenue
This chart represents the revenue our office collects and how its disbursed. As you can see, the Recorder’s Office contributes far more to the General Fund than any other.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 4

6. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 5
Revenue
This chart represents the revenue our office collects and how its disbursed. As you can see, the Recorder’s Office contributes far more to the General Fund than any other.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 5

7. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 6
Expense Totals
ID Security Protection Fund: included funds for digitization contract.
With the exception of 2016, which included funding for our digitization project, our expenses have remained relatively consistent over the past 3 years.
I would note however, funding has increased from the two dedicated funds for our office: the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund and the ID Security Protection Fund.
Funding has significantly decreased from the County General Fund.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 6

8. Character 1
2018 budget amount includes funding for possible salary adjustments.
Our Character 1 expenses have increased only slightly from last year, mostly due to health insurance costs.
The biggest change is that all of the Character 1 expenses are coming from the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund rather than split with the County General Fund.
Character 2 budget more accurately reflects actual expenses.
Character 1 – Salaries, Wages, etc...
Character 2 - Supplies
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 7

9. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 8
Character 2
Our Character 1 expenses have increased only slightly from last year, mostly due to health insurance costs.
The biggest change is that all of the Character 1 expenses are coming from the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund rather than split with the County General Fund.
Character 2 budget more accurately reflects actual expenses.
Character 1 – Salaries, Wages, etc...
Character 2 - Supplies
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 8

10. Marion County Recorder 2017 Budget Presentation • 9
Character 3
ID Security Protection Fund for 2015 – 2017 included digitization expenses.
Increase for 2018 related to additional data storage costs, recording software contract renewal, and potential new public search services.
Our Character 3 expenses have increased from 2014 almost entirely because we migrated all of our technology services to the Information Services Agency last year and our 2017 budget more accurately reflects our anticipated expenses.
The expenses from the ID Security Protection Fund in 2015 and 2016 were designated for our digitization project. In 2017, the use of dollars from this fund are for support services and data storage expenses with ISA.
Our focus in drafting our 2017 budget with the Office of Finance and Management, was to shift our chargeback expenses to the General Fund since we have limited control over those. In the past, those expenses were previously funded through the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund, but are now limited to the General Fund.
The increase in Character 4 expenses are budgeted for equipment needs for microfilm storage.
Character 3 – Services (Contracts, etc…)
Character 4 - Equipment
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2017 Budget Presentation • 9

11. Marion County Recorder 2017 Budget Presentation • 10
Character 4
Our Character 3 expenses have increased from 2014 almost entirely because we migrated all of our technology services to the Information Services Agency last year and our 2017 budget more accurately reflects our anticipated expenses.
The expenses from the ID Security Protection Fund in 2015 and 2016 were designated for our digitization project. In 2017, the use of dollars from this fund are for support services and data storage expenses with ISA.
Our focus in drafting our 2017 budget with the Office of Finance and Management, was to shift our chargeback expenses to the General Fund since we have limited control over those. In the past, those expenses were previously funded through the Recorder’s Perpetuation Fund, but are now limited to the General Fund.
The increase in Character 4 expenses are budgeted for equipment needs for microfilm storage.
Character 3 – Services (Contracts, etc…)
Character 4 - Equipment
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2017 Budget Presentation • 10

12. Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 11
Summary
2018 Budget
Recording fee changes provide predictability for customers and sustained funding for operations and long-term preservation of records.
All expenses supported by dedicated funds eliminating reliance on General Fund.
Budget reflects total revenue and expenses.
Increased expenses for recording software, data storage and enhanced public search services
Thank you for the opportunity to present our 2017 budget.
This budget is a more accurate reflection of our actual revenue and expenses.
It represents a 63% reduction in use of dollars from the General Fund for the Recorder’s Office.
And although it increases the dependency on the two dedicated funds for this office, it still – for now – maintains adequate balances for those funds.
We will continue to seek efficiencies and opportunities to reduce expenses while still providing excellent service to our customers and our community.
And if you will indulge me a moment – I’d like to share with you how proud I am of the Recorder’s Office staff. They are dedicated public servants and it is my honor to work with them.
Thank you.
September 18, 2017
Marion County Recorder 2018 Budget Presentation • 11