Courthouse buzz

Linda Doggett's office is a good barometer of the recovering economy.

The newly elected Lee County clerk of courts says her office is gaining ground on the backlog of foreclosures and the value and number of mortgage documents filed has risen. “It shows our economy going up a little bit,” Doggett says.

For example, 4,283 deeds were filed at the courthouse in December, a 4% increase over the same month in 2011. But more striking, the average value of the deeds filed in December was $122,551, a 21% increase over December 2011.