Codington County Register of Deeds Highlights E-Recording Growth, Marriage License Changes and 2027 Budget Plans in Watertown

Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - Codington County Register of Deeds Ann Rasmussen presented a monthly operations update and 2027 budget request to the Board of Commissioners on Thursday, July 30, 2026.

New Marriage License Rules and Software Delays

Rasmussen highlighted recent state-level changes regarding underage marriage licenses. Effective July 1, 16-year-old applicants must now provide a court order and signatures from both parents. Previously, the county only required a signature from one parent to issue the license.

The state is also attempting to implement a new vital record system, which has experienced multiple delays. Originally scheduled to go live on July 1, the rollout was pushed to July 13, and the county is now awaiting a final launch date. Rasmussen noted that state webinars demonstrating the software revealed discrepancies between the training models and the final product, prompting the county to wait until the system is fully operational before implementation.

E-Recording Surges as Paper Storage Declines

Overall document volume in the office continues to fluctuate with area sales, but electronic recordings are seeing a significant increase.

Documents submitted electronically bypass the mail and go directly into the county’s software system. This allows staff to quickly apply recording information and automatically return the document to the sender. If an error is detected, the document is immediately rejected and sent back for quick correction.

Because of the shift toward e-recording, Rasmussen noted the county has not needed to retain physical paper copies of these documents for years. The only physical copies currently made are for indexing legal descriptions into county books, keeping long-term storage needs low.

2027 Budget Decreases Postage and Equipment Lines

During the review of the 2027 budget requests, Rasmussen outlined a flat budget with several specific decreases.

Because e-recording has drastically reduced the need to mail documents back to senders, the office officially decreased its postage budget for 2027. The equipment budget was also decreased, as the office does not anticipate any major purchases in the upcoming year.

For personnel, the proposed budget includes a calculated 3% wage increase, which directly adjusted corresponding retirement lines. Health and dental insurance were both budgeted for a 10% increase.

The office is currently fully staffed. While no immediate turnover is expected, Rasmussen informed commissioners that significant staffing changes and transition planning will likely be necessary within the next few years.

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