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Home > Elected Officials > County Clerk > News > December 16, 2010 - Clerk Paula Sollami Covello Lowers Fees on Electronic Record Searches
December 16, 2010 - Clerk Paula Sollami Covello Lowers Fees on Electronic Record Searches
Contact Information:
Paula Sollami Covello
Mercer County Clerk
609-989-6465
psollamicovello@mercercounty.org
County Clerk Paula Sollami-Covello is lowering subscription fees to use Mercer County’s Public Records Electronic Search System (McPRESS) beginning January 3, 2011. McPRESS, a viewable and printable electronic program available to professional title searchers, law firms, and members of the public, provides online access to information on property related transaction records for all of Mercer County, dating back to 1997. Mercer is one of twelve New Jersey counties allowing public access to land title records via computer on a single use or subscription basis.
The County Clerk’s Office lowered subscription fees to correspond with the actual cost to operate and maintain the McPRESS site. “As the number of subscribers increases, costs can be spread among the users, and we pass along those savings to subscribers and taxpayers,” noted Sollami Covello.
Beginning on the first business day of the New Year, the County Clerk’s Office will offer three new subscription fees: Yearly - $500.00, Quarterly - $150.00 or, a 1-time user fee of $5.00. (The earlier fees were $1,200.00 for an annual subscription and $400.00 for a quarterly subscription). The Clerk's Office will continue the courtesy that the first two pages of an electronic document may be viewed free. Of course, researching recorded documents on-site and in-person are always free to those who visit the Mercer County Clerk’s Office Search Room located on the first floor of the Old County House at 209 South Broad Street in Trenton.
“The Office of the Mercer County Clerk continues to make every effort to provide the most current and economically effective technologies in the recording and retrieval of property records,” noted Sollami Covello. She added social security numbers were redacted by her staff prior to the release of these land records over the internet. “My top priority is protecting private information, and therefore, we masked non-public information prior to release.” Sollami Covello said further. “Another layer of protection is that the service is subscription-based, therefore limiting users to those who sign up to access the County’s system,” Sollami Covello further said.
Researched copies of public records are available over the internet and contain a watermark, noting the copy as unofficial. Official or certified copies of documents without an internet watermark may be obtained at the Mercer County Clerk’s Office either by visiting the office located at 209 South Broad Street, Trenton, NJ 08650 or by mailing a request with the appropriate fees. Plain copies are available for $.10 per page; while mailed copies are $2.00 per page. The fee for a certified copy is $10.00 for the first page plus $1.50 for each additional page, whether one comes to the office or sends in a request by mail. The fees are set by the State of New Jersey.
The Mercer County Clerk’s Office is following the trend of recent changes in State law to help lower general costs for the public. The State Legislature recently lowered the costs for requesting documents under amendments to the NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA). It is the goal of the Mercer County Clerk’s office to promote transparency and to comply with the law.
Members of the public and businesses can subscribe to McPRESS via the Internet at: http://records.mercercounty.org or call the County Clerk’s Office at 609-989-6467 for more information.
Paula Sollami Covello
Mercer County Clerk
609-989-6465
psollamicovello@mercercounty.org
County Clerk Paula Sollami-Covello is lowering subscription fees to use Mercer County’s Public Records Electronic Search System (McPRESS) beginning January 3, 2011. McPRESS, a viewable and printable electronic program available to professional title searchers, law firms, and members of the public, provides online access to information on property related transaction records for all of Mercer County, dating back to 1997. Mercer is one of twelve New Jersey counties allowing public access to land title records via computer on a single use or subscription basis.
The County Clerk’s Office lowered subscription fees to correspond with the actual cost to operate and maintain the McPRESS site. “As the number of subscribers increases, costs can be spread among the users, and we pass along those savings to subscribers and taxpayers,” noted Sollami Covello.
Beginning on the first business day of the New Year, the County Clerk’s Office will offer three new subscription fees: Yearly - $500.00, Quarterly - $150.00 or, a 1-time user fee of $5.00. (The earlier fees were $1,200.00 for an annual subscription and $400.00 for a quarterly subscription). The Clerk's Office will continue the courtesy that the first two pages of an electronic document may be viewed free. Of course, researching recorded documents on-site and in-person are always free to those who visit the Mercer County Clerk’s Office Search Room located on the first floor of the Old County House at 209 South Broad Street in Trenton.
“The Office of the Mercer County Clerk continues to make every effort to provide the most current and economically effective technologies in the recording and retrieval of property records,” noted Sollami Covello. She added social security numbers were redacted by her staff prior to the release of these land records over the internet. “My top priority is protecting private information, and therefore, we masked non-public information prior to release.” Sollami Covello said further. “Another layer of protection is that the service is subscription-based, therefore limiting users to those who sign up to access the County’s system,” Sollami Covello further said.
Researched copies of public records are available over the internet and contain a watermark, noting the copy as unofficial. Official or certified copies of documents without an internet watermark may be obtained at the Mercer County Clerk’s Office either by visiting the office located at 209 South Broad Street, Trenton, NJ 08650 or by mailing a request with the appropriate fees. Plain copies are available for $.10 per page; while mailed copies are $2.00 per page. The fee for a certified copy is $10.00 for the first page plus $1.50 for each additional page, whether one comes to the office or sends in a request by mail. The fees are set by the State of New Jersey.
The Mercer County Clerk’s Office is following the trend of recent changes in State law to help lower general costs for the public. The State Legislature recently lowered the costs for requesting documents under amendments to the NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA). It is the goal of the Mercer County Clerk’s office to promote transparency and to comply with the law.
Members of the public and businesses can subscribe to McPRESS via the Internet at: http://records.mercercounty.org or call the County Clerk’s Office at 609-989-6467 for more information.
