NACo recognized the Burke County Register of Deeds’ Electronic Document Exchange Portal under the Information Technology Category as an innovative and creative use of technology in serving the citizens of Burke County.
On March 18, 2014, the Burke County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution that prohibits the recording of deeds with delinquent taxes. Citizens are required to have their documents reviewed by the Tax Office prior to being recorded in the Register of Deeds Office. While the resolution improved tax collection rates, it created an inconvenient situation where deeds needed to be presented in two separate offices, separated by several city blocks, instead of one location.
To solve this issue, an electronic document exchange portal was developed to accomplish the following:
1.) Promote customer service and convenience
2.) Improve accessibility between government offices
The new portal allows the Register of Deeds Office to send deeds electronically to the Tax Office to obtain a tax certification stamp. The Tax Office then electronically returns the certified and stamped document to the Register of Deeds Office, where the deed is finally recorded.
The electronic document exchange portal is a model for other counties in North Carolina with similar requirements and offices in separate locations.
Stephanie A. Norman, Register of Deeds states “I am proud to have been able to work with Courthouse Computer System, our office’s Land Record Management System, to develop this portal on behalf of Burke County. This portal improves our customers’ ability to meet the requirement of the county resolution. We did not want to continue to require our customers to travel back and forth between our office and the tax office. Instead, we used a creative technological approach to assist our customers.”
Nationally, awards are given in 18 different categories that reflect the vast, comprehensive services counties provide. The categories include children and youth, criminal justice, county administration, information technology, health, civic engagement and many more.