Wichester to Increase Record Fees

It will cost Winchester residents more money to get a copy of their birth certificate.

The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to approve an increase in fees at the Town Clerk’s office, which include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates and building permits, among other forms and permits.

“The town will be able to generate approximately $40,000 in additional revenue,” Town Clerk Mary Ellen Lannon said. “While I believe the increase will assist the revenue estimates for Fiscal Year 2013, an affirmative vote of the board this winter will allow the town to generate the revenues during FY 2012.”

According to Lannon, the town looks at its fees every couple of years to make sure they’re in line and they make adjustments where appropriate.

Lannon said that even though the town is primarily using web-based programs that don’t necessarily save the town money.

“The cost to provide the software programs are on the rise,” Lannon said. “We still need to go through the same steps of verification even though everything’s online.”

Lannon said she would like to advertise the increases for about a month before instituting the new fees.

“We need to have more fairly administered fees,” said Selectmen Chair Forrest Fontana. “We need to look at this annually. We don’t need to necessarily increase the fees annually, but only raise them when we need to. And then only at the right point can we then go to the public and ask them to supplement [the budget] with an override.”

Here is a list of the new fees: