Perrell announces reelection bid for Washington Co. recorder of deeds

For the MVI

Carrie Perrell of Nottingham Township announced she will seek reelection for the Washington County Recorder of Deeds Republican nomination in the May 20 primary election.

Perrell has been serving since winning the election in 2021.

“I am honored to have served as an elected official these past few years. If reelected, I will continue to serve Washington County taxpayers with integrity while seeking additional ways to modernize and improve our service,” she stated.

In her campaign announcement, she cites the following key improvements made during her first term, including: direct deposit of local real estate transfer taxes for all municipalities and school districts, increased hours for recording documents, new public computers, a dedicated backup server, and a completed pilot project for indexing historical documents.

“Direct deposit of local transfer taxes has resulted in cost savings by eliminating the need to purchase, print, and mail checks. This has also increased convenience to county municipalities and school districts, saving trips to the bank and allowing for more accurate bookkeeping,” she stated.

Perrell credits her staff for their cooperation in staggering lunch hours to accommodate the public wishing to record during the lunch hour. This change has added more than 200 hours per year of availability for recording documents at no additional cost to Washington County taxpayers.

“Real estate sales and the oil and gas industry are two important contributors to Washington County economy. Because conducting property searches is essential to these businesses, the Record of Deeds office seeks to be an asset to these industries through new upgraded computer equipment allowing for efficient property searches,” she stated.

A pilot project, indexing historical documents from the late 1700s to early 1800s, was completed during this first term with plans to expand this project over the next few years. Historical indexing allows for easier genealogy searches. Currently indexing only goes back to the 1940s. Completing this project will allow for easier research back to the founding of Washington County, she said.

Finally, securing the data of the Recorder of Deeds’ office is essential. As such, the office has contracted with the current land management software company. Now the data of the Recorder of Deeds office is backed up on a dedicated server and is updated daily.

“Washington County residents deserve to have elected officials who uphold the standard “of the people, by the people, for the people.” I believe I embrace this standard, and I ask the people of Washington County to allow me the privilege of working for them an additional four years by way of a second term.”