Faulkner County Reports

Accountability, Ethics, & Transparency in Government

Circuit Clerk Crystal Taylor Leads the Way in Government Service

Published · Updated

It’s been six years since Crystal Taylor first took office, defeating a 13-year incumbent Democrat for Faulkner County’s Circuit Clerk position.

Since then, her ambition to effectively deploy her staff and taxpayer money along with her unwavering focus on new technology improvements put almost $2 million in unspent funds back into the County General budget.

Under her leadership the Circuit Clerk’s office has continued to implement numerous online efficiencies and workflow improvements, saving taxpayer dollars while providing enhanced digital government services for Faulkner County citizens.

Along the way not only has she raised salaries for her staff, but the Circuit Clerk’s office has also received several awards for cost savings and innovation from the Information Network of Arkansas, a public-private partnership set up to expand digital government services.

Duties

The Circuit Clerk’s office

  • maintains historical and current records for Circuit Court (Civil, Domestic, Juvenile, Criminal matters) including dockets, summonses, warrants, orders, judgments, injunctions, prospective juror lists and swearing in jurors at trials);

  • acts as the ex-officio Faulkner County recorder;

    • and

  • maintains deeds, mortgages, liens and surety bonds plus other property records, miscellaneous items, and certain licenses.

Office Now Funded Entirely by Fees

In the past, funding for the Circuit Clerk’s office was shared between filing and other fees (kept in the Cost Recorders Fund) and County General funds (tax money).

For 2022, Taylor has shifted the entire cost of her office (personnel as well as operational expenses) to the Cost Recorders Fund, making the portion of County General money historically allocated for Circuit Clerk operations available now and in future years for other uses. The Circuit Clerk’s office is now fully funded by service fees rather than taxpayer funds.

Before this change, Taylor had routinely returned excess Cost Recorders Fund money to the County General fund: *

Electronic Land Records

The Circuit Clerk’s office implemented electronic recording of land records within the year that Taylor took office. The new system allows the public to search real estate records online; businesses can also sign up to submit records electronically.

In 2018, the office earned a Business Service Award from the Information Network of Arkansas / Digital Government Transformation Awards for “E-Recording of Land Records.”

The new paperless filing system cut costs for both Faulkner County and business customers and increased economic reach. This early implementation of electronic recording proved essential to preparing the Circuit Clerk’s Office for continuity of operations during COVID.

Electronic Records Implemented State-Wide

Upon taking office in 2017, Taylor began a seemingly simple change — replacing paper files with online documents — and immediately began saving over $1,500/year in paper purchases plus an estimated 24 labor hours a year.

She later expanded the program to create electronic transcripts for the Arkansas Supreme Court, a program so successful that the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a Per Curiam (court order) in 2020 requesting all Arkansas counties submit these records in electronic format, bringing paper/labor cost savings to all 75 Arkansas counties. Electronic Supreme Court records have also lessened the burden on attorneys who are preparing appeal briefs.

In 2017, this project earned an honorable mention in the Digital Pioneer & Efficiency Award category from the Information Network of Arkansas / Digital Government Transformation Awards.

Supporting Law Enforcement & the Courts

Knowing the history of an individual being arresting is crucial for the safety of both the public and law enforcement officers.

In addition to pioneering electronic transcripts for the Arkansas Supreme Court, under Taylor’s direction the Circuit Clerk’s office pushed arrest records/tracking numbers online, resulting in a Data Quality Award from the Administrative Office of the Supreme Court in 2020.

Arrest data in the Arkansas Crime Information Center Database is now 98% accurate (up from 40%) due to Taylor’s online system.

In 2021, the Circuit Clerk’s office received another Data Quality Excellence Award from the Administrative Office of the Supreme Court for continued work on the arrest tracking records.

Other Awards

In 2017, the Circuit Clerk’s office received an honorable mention in the Digital Pioneer & Efficiency Award category from the Information Network of Arkansas / Digital Government Transformation Awards for a copy machine accounting program that created a 360% increase in funds from print fees by tracking the number of copies to ensure accurate payment collections.

In 2018, the office was recognized by Arkansas Digital Transformation Awards as a finalist for Efficiency Award for work on “Electronic Transcripts Replacing Physical Documents” — a program that benefited Circuit Clerk offices, court reporters, the state Supreme Court, and attorneys by reducing storage, paper, and labor costs while increasing security and reducing data errors.

See more about the Circuit Clerk’s offerings on the County website.

* Any money above $1M that accumulates in the Cost Recorders Fund must be returned to the County General Fund, by state law. However, funds accumulating above a small mandated minimum up to $1M are spent at the discretion of the Circuit Clerk.

Taylor is the first Circuit Clerk to conserve those extra funds above the minimum, which first allowed her to return excess/unneeded money to the County each year and has now resulted in the ability to fund the entire Circuit Clerk’s office via the Cost Recorders Fund, thus saving taxpayer dollars for other uses.