The San Benito County Recorder’s Office now will remain open on
non-holidays in 2009 and 2010 to comply with state law, supervisors
decided Tuesday. Instead of furlough days aligning with other
county departments as part of a cost-cutting plan, office closures
will take place on some designated judicial holidays in 2010 and
2011.
HOLLISTER
The San Benito County Recorder’s Office now will remain open on non-holidays in 2009 and 2010 to comply with state law, supervisors decided Tuesday. Instead of furlough days aligning with other county departments as part of a cost-cutting plan, office closures will take place on some designated judicial holidays in 2010 and 2011.
The supervisors reversed their previous decision to close the recorder’s office around the end-of-year holidays. The revised schedule means that the recorder’s office now will be open for regular business on Nov. 24, Dec. 24, and Dec. 28-31 in 2009 and on Nov. 24 and Dec. 27-30 in 2010.
These changes were necessary so the county could continue to collect additional recorder filing fees.
Last August, the supervisors authorized the closing of certain county offices, including the recorder’s office, to accommodate employee furlough days as a cost-cutting measure. County staff subsequently discovered that the supervisors had established an additional $1 fee for filing recorded documents in 1994 in accordance with the California Government Code and that the law banned non-holiday closures while this fee was in effect.
Joe Paul Gonzalez, county recorder, told the board that to maintain the fee program, “the code required the recorder’s office to be open every business day except for legal and designated judicial holidays.”
To meet this requirement, the supervisors changed the closure schedule to eliminate the non-holiday closings and directing that the recorder’s office close on the three judicial holidays in 2010 and two 2011 as an alternative.
The new closure dates for the recorder’s office are:
Friday, Feb. 12, 2010: Lincoln Day
Wednesday, March 31, 2010: Cesar Chavez Day
Monday, Oct. 11, 2010: Columbus Day
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011: Lincoln Day
Thursday, March 31, 2011: Cesar Chavez Day
