Missouri lawmakers are considering whether to double the Missouri Land Survey Fund for the first time in 57 years.
Land surveyors help determine property boundaries, prepare sites for construction and create land records and maps. In 1969, the state established a $1 fee that goes toward the Missouri Land Survey Fund, which supports the work of the state's land surveyors. When people pay for real estate documents, such as deeds, a $1 of that payment goes toward the land survey fund.
Missouri Senate Bill 938 would increase the user fee by $2 to both 1) provide an extra $1 to the land survey program and 2) supply an additional dollar to county recorder of deeds offices to support record preservation.
State Land Surveyor Scott Faenger isaid the program is fully funded by the fees collected at county recorder of deeds offices.
“We've survived on that $1 since then. We're just trying to get the $1 increase, because we're no longer able to sustain what we've got,” Faenger said.
He said if the bill does pass, the extra funding could hire more people and lessen delays.
“We're currently at a three-year lag on getting to these investigations," Faenger said. "So if a property owner calls and wants us to come out, and they're having an issue, we have to tell them that we're three to five years behind."
Faenger said a previous, failed attempt to increase the fund's revenue led to a downsizing his land surveying team.
County record of deeds offices across the state would also benefit from the fee increase.
Bob Nolte is the Boone County Recorder of Deeds, and he's responsible for processing documents such as real estate records and marriage licenses. In addition to providing records, one of the main jobs for a recorder of deeds is preserving those records. Nolte said he has documents going back to the early 1800s, which he is in charge of duplicating and digitizing for members of the public.
“Generally your house is going to be one of your biggest investments," Nolte said. "So, you want to know that those records, when you need them, they are available. They are protected. They're backed up and they're going to be easy to get when the time comes if you do find yourself needing them."
A standard document fee starts at $24, and the money is allocated between seven different state and local government services. If the bill passes, this base cost would become $26, with one of those additional dollars going toward the Missouri Local Records Grant Program. Nolte said preservation costs have been increasing because of microfilm and storage prices.
“Even with just our day to day operations, we still have to pay for the computers and the scanners and all of the equipment that makes sure we can effectively process all the documents that we’re being required to record,” Nolte said.
But rising costs is not the only barrier. Funds from the fees have decreased over time, with the land survey fund seeing an more than $200,000 decrease between 2022 and 2025. Nolte said the number of records the state processed increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that number has been decreasing since. He credits some of this to household changes; fewer people are moving because of an expensive housing market, so fewer people are requesting and paying for deeds.
“We've just seen so few people being able to refinance in the last 4 or 5 years that I think that has influenced the number of recorded documents,” he said.
Missouri Senate Bill 938 has passed the Senate and is now awaiting consideration in the Missouri House. If the bill doesn't pass, the Missouri Land Survey program may need to ask the Department of Agriculture for general revenue funds for the program to continue operating.
