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By: Mark D. Dopkin
Tydings & Rosenberg LLP
As most of you know, the Real Property Records Improvement Fund
(the “Fund”) was created in 1991 to aid the operation of the
Clerks’ Offices to eliminate the backlog in recording and
indexing documents in the Land Records. The 1991 enabling
legislation provided the Fund only could be “used to repair,
replace, improve, modernize and update office equipment and
equipment-related services to the Land Records Office of the
Clerk of the Circuit Court for each county.” It had a limited
life span of five years and was to sunset in 1996. Since its
inception, under the direction of the Administrative Office of
the Courts (“AOC”), millions of dollars have been spent not only
to eliminate the backlog in recording, but to computerize the
process. In addition, with the exceptional assistance of the
Archives, we now have web access to indexes from approximately
1972 forward, as well as access to almost all documents recorded
in the Land Records and Plat Records in all of the counties and
Baltimore City. As of this writing, 234,161 land record and index
books are now available on line. This represents 167,335,768
images. The Fund is now financing the AOC’s pilot program for
electronic filing of land record documents.
For the first half of the current fiscal year the Fund collected
$13,000,000. The balance on December 31 was $77,898,000. However,
the prospects for the Fund are not without concerns. The 1995
Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act substantially expanded
the Fund’s limited purpose. Thereafter, the Fund was to be used
“to pay the operating expenses of the Land Records Offices of the
Clerks of the Circuit Courts.” The original five-year sunset was
extended and an Oversight Committee was mandated. The sunset was
extended to June 30, 2009, and the fee was raised from $5.00 to
$20.00 per instrument. (The Oversight Committee is comprised of
one representative from the Maryland State Bar Association, the
Maryland Land Title Association, the Clerks of Court and the
Maryland Archives and charged with reviewing the status of the
Fund and its operation by the Administrative Office of the
Courts).
Senate Bill No. 1 adopted in the 2007 Special Session now makes
the Fund responsible for Judiciary information technology
projects as well. This is a dramatic enlargement of the Fund.
Given this and the fact that the we anticipate reduced revenues
as a result of the downturn in the economy, it is projected that
the revenues for fiscal year 2008 will be approximately $23.7
million. The projected expenses will be approximately $30.4
million. The estimates of expenses for fiscal year 2009 is also
estimated to be approximately $30 million, without taking into
account funding the needs of the information technology projects
of the Judiciary Department. The Oversight Committee is very much
concerned with the recent mistreatment of the Fund by the
Legislature. We continue to be concerned that the excellent
progress made with the Land Records in each of the Counties will
be compromised or possibly reversed. To quote from a letter from
Chief Judge Robert M. Bell in his letter to Senator Ulysses
Currie and Delegate James E. DeGrange, Sr. expressing concern
about Senate Bill No. 1 “I fear that this is a time bomb, one
whose consequences, though unknowable at the moment, promise to
be potentially devastating.”
Mr. Dopkin is a Partner at Tydings & Rosenberg LLP and is the
representative of the MSBA to the Real Property Records
Improvement Fund Oversight Committee.
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