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Commission Minutes—July 26, 2023 5750 <br />5. RECORDER <br />Deb Moeller, County Recorder was present to review the 2024 Recorder's Office budget. Ms. <br />Moeller said 2023 has seen a reduction in document counts and revenues. She said the decrease in <br />document counts is likely due to the increase in interest rates leading to fewer mortgages which <br />makes up a large portion of documents. She said the budget includes a net decrease of $3,552 due <br />to moving the travel budget from the Recorder's budget to the Document Preservation fund to attend <br />the PRIA conference rather than the NACo conference. <br />Mrs. Scherling asked if the open position in the Recorder's Office is part of the 2024 budget. Ms. <br />Moeller said the open position is included in the budget; however, she does not intend to fill the <br />position unless document counts increase significantly and the additional position is required. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mrs. Scherling moved and Mr. Breitling seconded to approve the 2024 <br />preliminary budget for the Recorder's Office as presented. On roll call vote, the <br />motion carried unanimously. <br />NDRIN Fund <br />Counties across the State are members of the North Dakota Recorders Information Network <br />NDRIN), a fund that is self-supporting through dollars generated from subscriber and copy fees. Ms. <br />Moeller said NDRIN remains a consistent revenue source for North Dakota Counties, however, will <br />likely see a dip in 2024 due to increasing interest rates and lower document counts. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Scherling moved and Mr. Breitling seconded to approve the 2024 <br />preliminary budget for NDRIN as presented. On roll call vote, the motion carried <br />unanimously. <br />Document Preservation Fund <br />Revenues from the Document Preservation Fund are generated through a fee per document <br />collected by the County Recorder when documents are filed. Ms. Moeller said the 2024 budget <br />includes her travel to the PRIA conference which was previously included in the Recorder's Budget. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Breitling moved and Mr. Kapitan seconded to approve the 2024 preliminary <br />budget for the Document Preservation Fund as presented. On roll call vote, the <br />motion carried unanimously. <br />6. NDSU EXTENSION SERVICE <br />Rita Ussatis, Cass County Extension Agent was present to review the 2024 NDSU Extension <br />Service and Parenting Workshop budget requests. Ms. Ussatis said the request is consistent with <br />previous years with the largest changes being a 6% salary increase for Extension Agent's as <br />determined by the State Legislature, a market equity increase for one agent as determined by the <br />State Legislature, an increase in travel costs, and a request to replace a copy machine. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mrs. Scherling moved and Mr. Breitling seconded to approve the 2024 <br />preliminary budget for NDSU Extension and Parenting Workshop as presented. <br />On roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously. <br />7. COUNTY CORONER <br />Kristie Ross, County Coroner was present to review the 2024 Coroner's Department budget. Ms. <br />Ross said the 2024 budget request is consistent with previous years budget request with the largest <br />changes of a decrease in professional consulting services, an increase in education and travel per <br />diem, an increase in seminar registration, an increase in investigations for body bags, fingerprinting <br />supplies, toxicology, and gloves, an increase in PC software, and an increase in vehicle <br />maintenance. She said the new coroner vehicle ordered in 2022 has begun production and will <br />hopefully be delivered soon. Ms. Ross said the Coroner's Office has completed 413 cases in 2023, <br />has used FM Ambulance 5 times for body removals, and used law enforcement assistance 17 times