WAUKEE, Iowa — With the primary election slated for June, outgoing Dallas County Recorder Chad Airhart shared Monday his record of accomplishments during his three-term tenure and endorsed a candidate to serve as his successor: ReNae Arnold.
Recorder Airhart came into office in 2011 after defeating a 22-year incumbent. He was re-elected in the 2014 and 2018 and was the top vote getter in the county each of those years, garnering more votes than anyone else on the ballot.
When Airhart first campaigned for office, he stressed his desire to run the Recorder’s Office like a business, to utilize technology and modernize the office. That is exactly what he did over three terms.
Today Dallas County has digitized its real estate records back to 1850, and they are all online available to the public with free access. The volume of images and data available to the public online is greater than that of any other county in Iowa.
Recorders offices across Iowa typically say the most important activity they have is to preserve and protect the records of what their ancestors did before them and in the actual format that the records were recorded. Today many other counties in Iowa are following the example set by Dallas County but are doing this with funds designated in the CARES act as part of ARPA funds for local government projects.
Airhart and his team did this on their own and without federal dollars by using the Dallas County Records Management Fund, a fund required in the Iowa Code and designated for record-keeping projects. This fund receives $1 for every recorded document in the county and does not use property tax dollars.
To supplement the digitation of real estate records, the Recorder’s Office under Airhart also imaged all military, birth, death and marriage records. These records have restricted access and can only be retrieved by persons entitled to the records.
In addition to the technological advances made under Airhart’s leadership, he is most proud of the fiscal standing of the office. In the 12 years of his tenure, the Dallas County Recorder’s office operated without using a penny of property tax dollars to fund the office.
The office was self-sufficient, operating wholly on fees received for services, fees that were set by the Iowa Legislature in the Iowa Code. During his first year in office, the 2010/2011 budget, the office recorded 18,686 documents with an average expense per document of $24.59.
In the most recent budget year, the office recorded 41,178 documents (with less staff than the office had when Airhart entered office) with an average expense per document of $16.51.
Airhart always says, “You spend less than you take in.” This has been his mantra, and the office is more efficient today that it was at the start of his term in 2011. Furthermore, the office has never used property tax dollars to function.
“We don’t cost the county money. We actually make money for the county and help to reduce property taxes” Airhart said. Throughout the 12 fiscal years he has been in office, the Dallas County Recorder has always brought in more money than it spent and has returned an accumulative $4.2 million thus far, with the current year on track to return nearly $1 million additional.
This fund balance represents funds that the county does not have to collect in property taxes in order to operate other departments. Thanks to the prudent fiscal management of the Recorder’s Office, the need for additional Dallas County property taxes has been reduced.
In calendar years 2020 and 2021, Dallas County recorded the third-largest number of documents of all 99 counties in Iowa, behind only Polk and Linn counties. Dallas County remains the fastest growing county in Iowa and one of the fastest growing in America.
Airhart’s candidacy and time as Recorder drew the attention of many. While some thought he initially ran to use the office as a stepping stone to higher office, he kept his word that he was running to serve as Recorder to accomplish certain tasks for the county, and that he did.
During his tenure, Airhart served on the Iowa County Recorders Association (ICRA) Executive Board, served as the Legislation Liaison for ICRA, served as Chairman of the Iowa Republican County Officials Association and was the recipient of the Property Records Industry Associations Carl Ernst Scholarship in 2014, a recognition given to only one county elected official nationwide.
As Airhart prepares to leave office at the end of this year, he has made a choice as to whom he wants to see succeed him as Recorder.
“I give my full endorsement to ReNae Arnold,” Airhart said unequivocally. “She is a lifelong Dallas County resident and a fiscal conservative. I have watched ReNae for almost two decades work to better our community and advance causes she believes in.”
Airhart said Adel’s Arnold “has the necessary work ethic and enthusiasm needed for the office. Professionally, she has the needed credentials when it comes to technology to carry on with the gains we have made in the office. I have confidence that from day one when she is sworn in, she will have the support and respect of the Recorder’s Office staff, she will manage the office in an effective and efficient manner and move the office forward; instead of taking us backwards.”
Airhart encourages his fellow Dallas County Republicans to join in supporting Arnold in the June 7 primary election and that all the voters of Dallas County will support her in November’s general election.
