WGLT
McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael, whose office is based in the McLean County Government Center, says it needs to be clear where the fees collected from taxpayers are going, especially if the legislature wants to double a fee paid on deeds and other real estate documents.
A group of 10 Central Illinois county clerks says they re against a proposal to raise a fee that funds housing authority grants because of discrepancies in data reporting and unequal distribution of grants across the state.
The $9 is collected on real estate documents (such as deeds) that county clerks record. The proposal currently in the Illinois Senate would raise that to $18. It would also create a task force to review how the money from the fee is used.
Peoria, IL, USA 104.9 The Wolf
Jeremy Scott/1470-100.3 WMBD
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. If the proposed Illinois House Bill 3878 passes through the Senate, all documents filed through any recorder of deeds office would increase from $9 to $18.
The money collected by recorder of deeds offices goes directly into the state’s Rental Housing Support Program.
What that program does, Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman said, seems like a secret.
“We’ve requested over the past several years [to know] where this revenue is going,” Ackerman said. “We never have been able to get from the State of Illinois a clear answer as to allocation of where all this funding is going.