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Staffers at the York County Sheriff's Department see mail delivered to the York County Prothonotary's Office, and they groan at the unwanted glimpse into their future workload.

"We get piles three or four feet high," said Prothonotary Pam Lee. "And they go 'uuuuh ...' because they know it's coming their way."

Both departments have seen their caseload swell since the downturn in the economy.

York County is on track to see a record number of foreclosure filings in 2009, breaking 2,000 for the first time.

And that's on top of a record 1,702 filings in 2008.

The current pace, about 173 filings per month, is more than double the 85 per month from 2004, just five years ago.

But at least the pace of the increase seems to be slowing.

Between 2007 and 2008, the number of foreclosure filings grew by 33 percent, from 1,281 to 1,702.

But if foreclosures continue at the current rate of 173 per month in 2009, the increase would be 22 percent, from 1,702 to 2,076.

"Basically the rate of increase has slowed, but we have an increase in cases," Lee said. "It doesn't seem to be increasing as fast as it did between  '07 and  '08, and so maybe things are beginning to level off. And that's what we hope."

Meanwhile, Lee said the filings mean "a lot more work" for both the prothonotary and sheriff, but county budget concerns bar the departments from hiring more workers.

"We have to make it work with what we have," she said. "We need to use

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all of our workers for the critical immediate work and put the other stuff aside at the moment. A lot of our back work is going to sit while we focus on getting this front work done. Anything that can wait will wait."

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436 or ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.