This month I want to talk about the work that was done during the 2023 year at the Atlantic County Clerks Office. It was to say the least another year of moving the office forward. As you know recording is one of the offices primary responsibilities. The national economy has much to do with the flow/amount of work that needs to be recorded.
There were 56,071 documents recorded in 2023. Of those, 12,115 were deeds, 8,804 were mortgages, 5,626 were discharges of mortgage. In 2022 70,861 total documents were recorded. Total income into the office was for 2023 was $25,108,632.60 which is down from $35,839,176.63 in 2022. Of those funds collected in 2023 $5,471,433.85 were given to the County of Atlantic for tax relief. As interest rates come down in the near future many citizens will refinance, purchase new or another home we should see an uptick in revenue and documents to be recorded.
During 2023 the office saw 2,508 people come in and be processed for a passport. This is an increase from the number of 2,435 in 2022. The time to get a passport is down to approximately four to six week versus the eight to 12 weeks that it took to get a passport last year. The office saw a decrease in the amount of notaries that were sworn in, for 2023 as 741 citizens took their oath compared to 965 in 2022.
There were 173 weddings performed by the County Clerk in 2023 and 101 performed in 2022 for a total of 274 in a 24 month period. This is a record of the Clerks Office.
On the election side of the office, the office handled one fire district election, the Margate municipal election in May, the primary election, and the general election. There were nearly 30,000 VBM ballots that were sent out in the general election, approximately 20,00 VBM’s for the primary election and over 7,000 letters to unaffiliated voters for the primary. There were over 200,000 sample ballots sent out for the primary election and another 200,000 sent for the general election. And now we are on to 2024, which is a presidential election cycle which will see a large increase in the amount/percentage of voters that will turn out to the polls.
Lastly, I am proud to say that my 2024 budget has been submitted to the county for 2024. We continue to run a lean budget which I have continued to cut costs for the past two years. Currently the office operates with less staffing from January 2022. The budget which was submitted for personnel is below what was spent in the 2018 County Clerks budget. As always if you have any questions or are in need of assistance please feel free to contact the office at (609) 625-4011.
Joseph J. Giralo
Atlantic County Clerk
Mays Landing, N.J.