BERRIEN COUNTY CLERK INCREASING EFFICIENCY, CUTTING VOTING COSTS FOR 2025

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH, MI – Berrien County Clerk Stacy Loar-Porter presented the clerk’s office’s annual report to County Commissioners at their meeting April 17, reporting a successful 2024. They are looking to make more improvements this year.
Loar-Porter took office in January after winning the election last November to succeed Sharon Tyler as the county clerk. The clerk’s office handles everything from birth, marriage and death records and gun licenses to elections and the trial court.
In total, the clerk’s office issued:

• 1332 Birth Certificates (slightly down from 2023)
• 1129 Marriage Licenses (nearly identical to 2023)
• 1749 Death Certificates (slightly up from 2023)
• No number given for Firearm Certificates (numbers up from 2023)

Berrien County continues to have a unified trial court combining the civil, family and criminal courts into one trial court, meaning the clerk’s office was “very, very busy.” She said the busiest courts were the family and criminal courts and that her staff continues to handle more cases due to law and software requirements.
She also gave an overview of elections in 2024 and what to expect in the future. She reported that 28,334 ballots were cast in last February’s presidential primary, 12,201 in the May special election, 31,248 in the August primary, and 85,144 in the November general election.
The percentage of people voting rose from 21, 25, and 31 percent in the February, May and August elections to 62 percent in the November election. “That’s pretty par for every four years,” she said.
Early voting, which was approved by voters in 2022, picked up over the year. In 2024, the county offered two early voting sites: at the Niles courthouse for central and south county residents and at Lake Michigan College for north county residents. 465 people voted early in February, 398 in August and 13,854 in November.
The county received $226,000 in state grants to pay for early voting. Loar-Porter told commissioners she doesn’t expect to get state funding to cover early voting costs. Municipalities could see a “ton of savings” by consolidating the number of early voting sites to one. Loar-Porter intends to choose a county-owned location to avoid paying rent and will store voting equipment the rest of the year.
Her other goals for 2025 include utilizing the clerk office space more efficiently and productively and hiring more personnel to handle the increase in the court work load. She said some of the clerk’s office space is not being used to its full potential because it’s not handicap accessible.
After the clerk’s annual report, Director Warren Parrish reported on the taxable and equalized values of properties in the county in 2024 for the 2025 year. The purpose of the equalization report is to measure the assessment level for each property class in each municipality in the county.

• 77 Appraisal Studies in 2024
• 986 Individual Appraisals
• 33 Sales Studies
• 80 Personal Property Studies
• 190 Assessment Levels

County wide, equalized values went up 16 percent from 2023 to 2024 and is going up 7.6 percent from 2024 to 2025. The total equalized value for real and personal property in 2025 is $15.73 billion, up from $14.62 billion in 2024.
The taxable value of real and personal property in the county increased by 7.36 percent last year and by 3.46 percent this year. Last year’s level was $10.3 billion, while this year’s is $10.65 billion. The biggest reason for the changes in both equalized and taxable values is inflation, which is now down from the higher levels of a few years ago.