Definition of County Surveyor

Government Code §§275740-27585

Survey Monument Preservation Fund Section 27584. Establishing survey monument preservation fund; contracting out

The Board may establish 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 within such county. The county surveyor may authorize a city engineer to perform such surveys within subject city or may contract with any surveyor in private practice to perform such surveys. When a city engineer or contract surveyor performs such surveys, he shall submit notes of such quality and size as may be necessary to conform to the standardized office records of the county surveyor. The county surveyor shall prepare a map of the survey and make such a map a part of his public records within 90 days after completion of fieldwork.

27585. User fee; surveys conducted by engineers of a large city; exclusive use

(a) For the limited purpose of financing the survey monument fund pursuant to Section 27584, the board may impose a user fee, not to exceed ten dollars ($10), or an amount set pursuant to Section 54985, which shall be charged and collected by the county recorder, over and above any other fees required by law, as a condition precedent to the filing or recording any grant deed conveying real property. Grant deeds creating lots created by recorded tract maps shall be exempt from the user fee. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), the fees shall be forwarded monthly by the county recorder to the county treasurer for deposit to the county survey monument preservation fund. Following the establishment of the fund, the board of supervisors may extinguish the fund if a finding is made by the board that the need for the fund no longer exists.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) or (c), if a city engineer of a city with a population of more than 1,500,000 persons conducts the survey pursuant to Section 27584, any user fees collected pursuant to subdivision (a) on and after January 1, 1987, with respect to any grant deed conveying real property located wholly within the city shall transferred monthly by the county recorder to the city treasurer of the city to reimburse the city for the expenses incurred by the city engineer on conducting that survey.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 2231 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, and except otherwise provided in subdivision (b), no funds collected by the county recorder for the survey monument preservation fund shall be transferred to, or deposited in, any other fund or used for any other purpose.
[Amended, Chapter 334, Statutes of 1986]

Destruction of Monuments
Penal Code §605
605. Removal, defacing and altering boundary monuments
Removing, defacing, or altering landmarks. Every person who either:
1. Maliciously removes any monument erected for the purpose of designating any point in the boundary of any lot or tract of land, or a place where a subaqueous telegraph cable lies; or,
2. Maliciously defaces or alters the marks upon any such monument; or,
3. Maliciously cuts down or removes any tree upon which any such marks have been made for such purpose, with intent to destroy such marks;

- is guilty of a misdemeanor.