New York State Sen. Joseph Griffo, Oneida County Clerk Mary Finegan and Madison County Clerk Michael Keville today pushed for an initiative that would ensure that more money from Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) transactions is kept local.
Fifty-one of the 62 counties are mandated by the state to operate a local DMV. This DMV operation is one of the many examples of shared services that counties provide for the state. Local DMV offices process many non-fee transactions on behalf of the state and provide customer services.
A certain percentage – 10.75% – of in person and online DMV transactions are remitted to the county of origin. This rate was increased several years ago to the current figure following Sen. Griffo’s successful advocacy.
To further support local governments and keep more funds local, Sen. Griffo, Finegan and Keville are proposing that counties be able to keep 25% of transactions. Sen. Griffo plans to request that the governor includes the increase in her 30-day budget amendments and is considering legislation to allow for the higher rate.
“It is unfair to require a county DMV to provide all services related to motor vehicles, including overhead and staffing, in order to fulfill state mandated operations and not share equitably in the generated revenue,” Sen. Griffo said. “Increasing the county DMV revenue sharing rate even further will not result in any increased cost or fees to local residents or taxpayers and will provide counties with the needed revenue to provide these necessary local government services.”
“Customer service is one of my main priorities when it comes to our local Utica and Rome DMV agencies,” Finegan said. “A proposed 25% increase would be significant, enabling us to expand upon customer service with improved staffing, updated facilities and equipment. More importantly, it would allow us to streamline services, which benefits all county residents.”
“With the new system upgrade, wait times will be longer in DMV offices because transaction times will increase as clerks must become more familiar with navigating within the new system,” Keville said. “More time per transaction, means a higher personnel cost for each transaction. An increase in retention rates will be necessary to keep County DMV offices open.”
Additionally, Sen. Griffo, Finegan and Keville called for further preventive measures to protect New York homeowners against deed fraud.
According to a recent report by the FBI, there has been a steady increase in reports of such scams, which have devastating consequences for unsuspecting owners who had no idea their land was sold, or was in the process of being sold, right out from under them.
In response to suggestions by Keville and Finegan, Sen. Griffo will be introducing legislation that would address and crack down on deed fraud.
The bill would require a “notice of sale” be filed with the county clerk. Once such a notice has been filed, the actual property owner will receive an alert, and a notarized affidavit will have to be filed, at no fee, to rescind a notice of sale. All deeds offered for recording would be required to reference the “notice of sale” by instrument number. Failure to do so would render it unrecordable.
“Deed fraud is occurring with much more frequency,” Sen. Griffo said. “We must consider all options available to safeguard New Yorkers so that they do not fall victim to this crime, which this proposed legislation will us to do. I thank Clerk Keville and Clerk Finegan for their input on this matter and appreciate their efforts to better protect homeowners in the state.”
“It is important to protect residents’ most valuable asset, which are their homes,” Finegan said. “With evolving technology and integrated AI, elected officials must propose ‘safeguards’ to our existing practices that offer as much protection as possible. In addition to the existing ‘Fraud Alert’ free services offered by most New York State County Clerks, this proposal would lend addition safeguarding of real property transfers.”
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