Government institution

16 Eagle Street, Room 128

518.487.5100

The Albany County Clerk’s Office and the Albany County Hall of Records are well-known as the County’s record keeper from all deeds and mortgages in the County, to every record of Albany County State Supreme Court and the Albany County Court, to the inactive records of County agencies to the City of Albany agencies as well.

 

The Albany County Clerk’s Office has an extremely large financial responsibility. By law, we charge fees for our services. The Albany County Clerk’s Office generates a modest surplus that goes towards assisting Albany County to keep taxes at a low moderate amount. In 2015 this office took in over 30 million dollars in revenue. Of that amount, over 2.8 million dollars was net revenue for the operation of the County Clerk’s Office. The other millions of dollars generated in revenue were distributed directly to the State, County along with the Cities, Towns and Villages within Albany County.

 

The County Clerk supervises a staff of 28 people at the County Court House in addition to a staff of 18 at the County Hall of Records. The Albany County Clerk’s 2015 annual expenses totaled $2,156,013. This amount subtracted from the net 2015 revenues of $2,812,905 means that this department overall returned a surplus of $656,892. The surplus of funds assists Albany County with lowering taxes. This surplus also assists the Albany County Executive and the Albany County Legislature’s initiative of being below the 2% tax cap.

 

The Albany County Hall of Records preserves County records dating back to the Dutch Colonial days. The Hall of records also assists our County and city agencies in managing over 105,000 cubic feet of inactive records. With advanced technology this office handles more and more tasks online. Deed and Mortgage records recorded since 1980 are available online. Also, an increased number of court cases are being filed electronically rather than on paper. In 2015 the Albany County Clerk’s Office received 1625 e-filed cases. To view these files, go to www.nycourts.gov/efile.

 

The Albany County Clerk’s Office continues to explore better ways to serve the public electronically with more efficient and effective technology.

 

The Albany County Clerk serves as the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) Officer of the County as well as a Chairman of the Contracts Administration Board. In 2015 the Albany County Clerk’s Office received 435 requests for information. As a member of the Contracts Administration Board the County Clerk works with the County Executive and the Chairman of the County Legislature to review and discuss proposed contacts between $20,000 and $100,000. While many County Clerk’s in New York State have Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) responsibilities, Albany County does not. The State of New York operates the Albany, New York DMV office directly.