County Clerk Bill Knowles announced that the Clerk’s office has remitted $1,786,000 this year in excess fees to Hamilton County’s General Government. Mr. Knowles said, “This large amount of funds is helpful to the general budgets adopted by the Hamilton County Commission.
“Many of these excess fees were earned through additional work the Clerk’s office assumed voluntarily to assist taxpayers by contracting with the Tennessee Department of Revenue, the Tennessee Department of Safety, and the city of Chattanooga.
“It’s a rewarding challenge to take on added responsibilities to help taxpayers, including printing duplicate motor vehicle titles ‘while you wait’, renewing a standard State driver’s license and issuing REAL ID at the Courthouse office, processing large fleet orders for the transportation industry, and making Chattanooga’s $5 sticker available when motorists renew a State vehicle registration.
“These extra dimensions of service not only permit us to serve the public more efficiently, it also enables our Constitutional office to contribute funds to the General Government. I commend my dedicated office team for their diligent and heroic work, especially during these days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to strive each day to serve mounting numbers of busy citizens needing county clerk services in these uncertain times that require us to comply with Health Department guidelines."