The continuing decline of the economy has taken its toll on everyone ... from the individual family up to the various levels of government.  Individual states and counties are really feeling the crunch.  They are trying to come up with ways to reduce costs and generate revenue.  Among their approaches is to raise the fees for criminal record checks and motor vehicle records checks, lay-off staff, and to limit the hours of operation. 
 
This is a growing trend.  So we thought we would update you on some of the recent changes that will affect the additional fees you pay or could cause delays in delivering completed reports to you.
 
New York State court fee went from $55 to $65.  (This is by far the highest fee in the country.)

Riverside County, CA went from no court fee to $1 per name plus $7.50 to print document.
 
Hawaii raised fee for MVR records from $10 to $23.
 
Oklahoma raised fee for MVR records from $12.50 to $27.50. 
 
The following court locations have furlough days (closures) which cause delays in gathering criminal records:

Orange County, CA - closed the 3rd Wednesday of every month.

New Hampshire - closed one Friday every month (varies.)

Kansas - closed one day every month (varies.)
 
Los Angeles County, CA laid off 300 court clerks for budgeting purposes in March 2010.

These trends will not be going away anytime soon.  We anticipate more increases in fees, counties that have not charged in the past will start doing so, and there will be more courts closing.
 
We will do our best to let you know about these changes early so you can plan for them.  But we don't always receive notification of changes until the last minute.

Be sure to regularly check out our website at http://www.essclientservices.com/New-Additional-Fees-Schedule.htm  for an up-to-date listing of the various fees and delays.