Westmoreland County Creating One-Stop-Shop for Land Records.

Continuing its efforts to streamline and modernize county government, the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners today entered into a lease agreement to consolidate land records offices into new office space that will increase public accessibility to property documents. The lease is part of an agreement with the county's Recorder of Deeds to expand office space in the recently renovated Courthouse Extension and does not involve the use of any county property tax dollars.
"This move is part of a comprehensive strategy to improve the physical layout of the Courthouse complex, enhance public access and make the best use of available space for the county's various functions for years to come," said County Commissioner Chairman Tom Balya. "Through our partnership with the Recorder of the Deeds we are able to make improvements to county land records offices without using county property tax dollars."
Moving to the fourth floor of the Courthouse Extension along with the Recorder of Deeds office will be the Tax Assessment Office and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Office to form what will be the county's new Bureau of Land Records.
The 20-year sublease entered into today by the Commissioners is with Westco Development LLC -- a private company that leases the fourth floor of the Courthouse Extension from the non-profit Economic Growth Connection. After renovations are completed, the county's lease payments will be paid entirely by Recorder of Deeds funds using a portion of a $5 fee on documents processed by the office that has been in effect since 1998. No county property tax dollars will be needed to make the payments, and the amount of the payments are fixed for the duration of the 20-year lease.
"After reviewing other alternatives and comparing office space in the area, there is no question that this is a good deal for the county," said Commissioner Tom Ceraso. "This is an important step toward our goal of combining and sharing county services to improve both the quality and the value of those services."
"It isn't every day that county government has the opportunity to do something new and progressive," said Recorder of Deeds Tom Murphy, an independently elected county row officer. "We are seizing a unique opportunity to put all land records together in the same location so that anyone in Westmoreland County who has a real estate issue can be assured that everything that can be done to resolve their issue will be achieved in the quickest and most economical way possible."
By being housed in the same location, information from land records offices will be shared more quickly and more accurately. This move will also allow multiple offices to share office equipment and supplies, saving additional county dollars.
"Working together, Westmoreland County is following the direction of other counties in the Commonwealth that have done a similar consolidation," Murphy added. "Because of our combined vision, Westmoreland County will continue to be on the cutting edge of constituent services and cost-cutting technology. This is a win for everyone doing business, or paying taxes, in Westmoreland County."
The four-story addition to the Courthouse Extension was completed in 2007 by the Economic Growth Connection. The building also houses the county's Children’s Bureau and the Westmoreland Development Council, which consists of the Department of Planning and Development, the Industrial Development Corporation, the Redevelopment Authority and the Economic Growth Connection.
For more information about the Recorder of Deeds office and other county departments, visit the Westmoreland County homepage at http://www.co.westmoreland.pa.us/.