DuPage could talk about abolishing recorder's office

DuPage officials could consider eliminating the county recorder's office as part of their ongoing effort to consolidate and streamline local government.

County board members celebrated last month when Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation that allows them to dissolve the election commission and transfer its functions to the county clerk's office. The board is expected to vote on the merger in January.

Now county board Chairman Dan Cronin is making it clear that DuPage's Accountability, Consolidation and Transparency Initiative, launched in 2012, won't end there.

"After that consolidation (of the election commission) becomes official early next year, we will continue our examinations of all offices and all departments, including but not limited to the recorder's office," Cronin said.

Right now, there's no formal proposal to dissolve the DuPage recorder's office, which is the custodian of all the county's land records.

But Cronin says the idea of consolidating the recorder's office with another county office or department should be discussed.

"I think it's something that we need to start thinking about," Cronin said. "It's something that we need to start having some conversations about."

Recorder Fred Bucholz said Wednesday he's not surprised the idea would come up because it's been discussed before.

"This has come up numerous times since I started working here in 1984," Bucholz said. "It's nothing new for us to hear."

Because the recorder isn't a constitutional office in Illinois, it's been eliminated in other counties, he said.

But Bucholz points out that his office provides a valuable service in DuPage.

"You've got to see if the service is going to be the same," he said. "If you can't provide the service, I think that's a problem."

If DuPage officials decide to examine the pros and cons of abolishing the recorder's office, Cronin stressed that Bucholz should be part of the conversation.

"I would do it in collaboration - working together," Cronin said.

He said there would be a thorough review to ensure the idea would be more efficient and effective. The level of service also needs to be maintained.

"We might come to the conclusion that it's a bad idea, that we should not dissolve it," Cronin said. "But I'm just saying we need to think about it because these are tough times."

With rising expenses and less revenue from the state, Cronin said it's increasingly difficult to balance the county's budget.

"I'm looking at our budget and we're down to discussions about copiers," he said. "It's very, very difficult to make ends meet these days."

So Cronin says DuPage must evaluate every county office and department and find ways to do more with less.

"There are folks that want me to consider new revenues," Cronin said. "I'm not going to go down that path until we have exhausted every possible opportunity to find efficiencies and to cut our budget."