Paying $8 more to file a deed or mortgage at the county courthouse may be a drop in the bucket to someone who just bought a house for $150,000. But LaSalle County Recorder of Deeds Karen Miller would like the county to get some benefit from it. The state charges the fee and a new law taking effect on July 1 will raise it. The money funds rent subsidies. None of the $3.4 million collected for in LaSalle County for the Rental Housing Support Program since 2005 has come back to the county.
Miller and other recorders whose counties have gotten little or nothing demanded a voice in such things. During the lame duck session last month, the legislature approved a task force to hear them when changes are made.
Miller says some documents are exempt from the fee, but not most of those filed at her office.