(TNS) Monroe County's four-term register of wills and recorder of deeds Helen Diecidue won't seek a fifth term this year.

Diecidue, who is 82, wants to enjoy some "quality years" traveling and visiting relatives.The Brooklyn, New York, native has three sons and a daughter, six grandsons and one granddaughter. Diecidue and her husband, Tony, then a regional shoe salesman, moved to Stroudsburg in 1970 to be closer to his sales territory. Both became active in the Monroe County Republican Party; each served terms heading the party committee.The couple owned and operated Mountain Area Abstract Co. in Mount Pocono from 1983 to 2001. It was there that Helen Diecidue conducted property title searches for residential and commercial sales, preparing her for winning her first race for register/recorder in 1999."I may go back to searching part-time, who knows," Diecidue said half-jokingly.Tony died in January 2004, just after Helen was elected to her second four-year term."After my husband died, I needed to fill a void, and I just continued working," she said. "That was my grieving period."Collecting taxesOne of her most significant accomplishments in office, Diecidue said, was creating the legal mechanism to make sure buyers and sellers of properties paid the 2 percent real estate transfer tax. Half that tax goes to the state and the other half is split by the local municipality and school district.The transfer tax often was ignored by buyer and seller. Trying to collect it particularly the local portion was exceedingly difficult."They'd get a letter from the (state) Department of Revenue they'd pay it," Diecidue said. "They'd get a letter from the recorder of deeds they'd throw it away."Diecidue started a campaign to enforce the transfer tax."I started that big thing," she said. "Some people didn't like it. But I did what I needed to do."She worked with state Rep. Mario Scavello, who introduced and helped gain final passage for a bill requiring the state to go after the local tax portion whenever the Revenue Department sought collection of the unpaid state portion.The requirement has been effective in bringing more revenue to local municipalities and schools, Diecidue said.Diecidue has issued periodic warnings to the public about private companies that use direct-mail campaigns offering homeowners their certified property deeds for $70 or more. The local Deeds Office provides the same service for about $4, depending on the number of pages.A woman who used an expensive private company once called to complain that she paid $85 but still hadn't received a copy of her deed, Diecidue recalled. The woman thought the company was connected with the county agency."I got a letter from them," Diecidue said of the deed solicitations, "and they didn't realize I was the recorder!"So what will she be doing next Jan. 3, when she is no longer the register/recorder?"I hope on Jan. 3 I'm on a plane going to Florida," Diecidue said.Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC