Record sales of real estate reaping big rewards for municipalities
By JUDITH O. ETZEL

July 14, 2004

Special Thanks to The Derrick for Allowing this story to be posted

Figures from the Venango County register and recorder's office offer an optimistic outlook about the county's economic health.

A quiet and diligent office tucked along the main concourse inside the Venango County Courthouse set a financial record last month.

And that record offers an optimistic outlook as to the county's economic health.

"June was a very busy month for us. We've had some very health real estate sales in the county," said Sue Buchan, Venango County register and recorder whose office handles a heavy traffic of patrons paying for one county-related service or another.

It is the register and recorder's office that issues marriage licenses, records deeds, collects inheritance taxes, files wills, handles adoption papers and more.

In the first half of 2004, Buchan's office has turned over $206,359 in fees, commissions and other income to the Venango County treasurer and $45,407 to the state. That's a lot of money, and there is more to come for a rather nondescript but hectic county cubbyhole-like office to readily disperse.

But it is one specific category that is ratcheting up the volume in Buchan's domain.

It is the realty transfer tax, a 1 percent surcharge on property that is sold within the county. The fee amounts to $10 for every $10,000 worth of property sold.

"We collected, just in June, $110,860 in the realty transfer tax. That represents $11 million-plus in real estate sales in June alone. That's a record, or at least a near record, for us. At any rate, it is certainly uncommon. Typically, it's more like $5 million or $6 million a month," said Buchan.

There were a couple of big sales, she said, including the property for the new Home Depot store in Cranberry Township at $840,000 and the former BiLo Market, also in Cranberry Township, for $232,500. The rest were homes, land and other businesses.

Cranberry Township accounted for about 15 percent of all real estate deals completed in June within Venango County.

Since the municipalities share in the realty transfer tax proceeds, June was a good month for them, too. That was especially true for school districts.

"Everybody did well in terms of that tax, especially in the Cranberry Area School District in which there were real estate sales totaling $1.9 million in June. The district got a check for $19,079 in the transfer tax," said Buchan.

In the Oil City Area School District, property sales were listed at $1.1 million in June, amounting to a check of $11,351 for the school district. It was nearly identical to Franklin Area School District's list of real estate deals in June, $1.1 million and a tax check for $11,309 to the district.

The Valley Grove district, too, benefited with $1 million in sales and a payment of $10,627.

Last month wasn't the only top-of-the-line entry for property sales in 2004. Buchan said March, too, was a big one with $8.2 million recorded as sales. Pumping that up was a $1.4 million sale of timberland in Pinegrove Township.

Checking a printout of real estate sales, Buchan said houses were selling well and the price range was expansive.

"It appears houses at $60,000 to $100,000 are selling well. But some lower priced homes, too, are going well," she said.

At this pace, with some $37 million in property sales recorded for the first half of 2004, the amount could top the $74 million mark by year's end. That would be significantly higher than the 2003 figure of nearly $60 million and the 2002 listing of $66 million.

While considered a hefty part of duties handled by the register and recorder's office, the realty transfer sector is the not the only one that generates money for the state, the county or individual municipalities and school districts. Buchan wears a number of hats - register and recorder, register of wills and clerk of orphans' court - and each has separate functions.

Under the auspices of orphans' court, the office issued 395 marriage licenses in 2003 (up from 389 in 2002) and has given out 179 so far this year. New cases involving petitions, guardianships and adoptions numbered 256 last year (down from 279 in 2002). They amount to 150 so far in 2004.

As register of wills, Buchan collected nearly $1.9 million in inheritance taxes in 2003, of which some $27,000 went to the county. So far in 2004, $912,793 has been collected. Nearly one-third of that came from a Franklin woman's $2 million estate.

In her job as recorder of deeds, Buchan listed 11,482 deeds, mortgages and agreements filed in her office in 2003, up from 10,750 in 2002. From January to July 2004, the filings total 4,858.

There were 109 subdivision maps and surveys filed in the recorder's office in 2003, less than the 134 in 2002. The number in the first half of 2004 is 67 filings.

The combined offices turned a total of $456,767 in fees, commissions and other income to the county in 2003.