Santa Barbara County Municipal Code § 32-65 Administration

This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Survey Monument Preservation Ordinance of the County of Santa Barbara." The purpose of this article is to develop a survey monument preservation fund to pay the necessary expenses incurred or authorized by the county surveyor in any retracement or remonument survey of major historical land division lines upon which later surveys are based, such as, but not limited to, government section lines, rancho lines, grant lines, rancho section lines, acreage, subdivision lot lines and subdivision boundary lines with such county. This article is adopted pursuant to sections 27584 and 27585 of the California Government Code.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

(a) "Grant Deed." Any conveyance by which a fee simple estate in real property is passed except that it does not include a quit claim, tax deed, reconveyance deed, decree of distribution, judgment of partition, trust deed, deed conveying easements or oil or mineral rights only, deed changing title from one form to another such as from community property to joint tenancy, or any grant deed that is recorded or re-recorded solely for the purpose of correcting an error in a privately recorded document.

(b) "Recorded Tract Map." A final map approved after August 14, 1929, filed under the authority of the Subdivision Map Act of the State of California.

(c) "Public Entity." Includes the state, a county, city, district, public authority, public agency, and any other political subdivision in the state.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

There is imposed a user's fee of ten dollars which shall be charged and collected by the county clerk-recorder, over and above any other fees required by law, as a condition precedent to the filing or recording of any grant deed conveying real property.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

The following grant deeds shall be exempt from such fees:

Grant deeds conveying:

(a) Lots created by recorded tract maps.

(b) Real property from the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or from any public entity.

(c) Real property to any public entity, or to the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

The treasurer of the County of Santa Barbara is required to maintain a Survey Monument Preservation Fund and under no circumstances shall funds collected by the county recorder for the Survey Monument Preservation Fund be directed into any other fund or used for any other purpose.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

The county clerk-recorder shall administer this article and on or before the 15th day of the month, the county clerk-recorder shall forward to the county treasurer all fees collected under this article during the previous month for deposit into the county's Survey Monument Preservation Fund.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the failure of the county clerk-recorder to collect said fee at the time of document recordation:

(a) Shall not create any liability on the part of the county clerk-recorder, and

(b) Shall not affect the constructive notice otherwise imparted by the recording of the document, and

(c) Shall not prevent the county from subsequently collecting the fee from the party who was liable to pay the fee at the time of the document recordation.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)

In determining the applicability of the fee to any conveyance, the county clerk-recorder may rely on the information on the document involved or information obtained from the filer of the document.

(Ord. No. 2961, § 1)