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SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Property records now going online
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter

   Schenectady County property records were never kept on stone tablets, but typewritten cards were close enough.
   Now a new program has modernized property record-keeping, officials said Wednesday, putting volumes of material on computer and even online.
   “We were in the stone age,” said Nicholas Barber, director of the county Real Property Tax Service Agency. “We were doing property ownership cards on typewriters. Now we’re able to update records quicker and allow people to more easily access accurate information.”
   Available now from the county’s Web site — Schenectady-County.com — is a host of information on properties, including ownership history and property tax information.
   It’s all information that was previously available, but only to those willing to get in their car and go to the proper offices. Now, anyone can look up the information from the comfort of home or office.
   The information is useful to title searchers, attorneys, residents and prospective home buyers. Citizens can use the information to compare assessments in their neighborhood. Prospective residents can use it to see who might be in their new neighborhood.
   Searching can be done by name or street address. Tax maps are also available.
   Word about the site has been slowly trickling out since it went online several weeks ago, Barber said. Response has been overwhelmingly positive.
   “They love it,” he said. “Assessors love it. Lawyers love it. People are very pleased with it. They’re surprised to find out about it.”
   Schenectady County was one of several counties statewide to be awarded a state grant for the program. Fulton County rolled out a similar Web site earlier this year.
   The county Legislature accepted the $109,000 Real Property Tax Administration technology improvement grant earlier this year. Since then, county officials have been working with Systems Development Group to get the property cards scanned into the ImageMate program and the information online.
   John Gearing, a title searcher for Sneeringer, Monahan, Provost and Redgrave, already did most of his work on site in the county building. The new system, he said, saves him the hassle of leafing through property cards.
   “It’s nice to have the whole card right up there on the screen,” he said.
   Leslie Bell runs her own title search company, Placid Title Services. She’s used the system from home, helping her focus her research.
   “It’s a very good system,” she said. “It’s a nice tool.”
   How to find property records: Go to SchenectadyCounty.com; select “Real Property Assessment Data” from the “eGov Services” pull down menu; then click on “From Outside the County Network.”

  
  
  

I just wonder how "up to date our evaluations really are looking at this.  My parents have had solar panels on their house for a long time, and I mean 15-20 years, from what I remember.  Well, I just went through this site, and the picture that they have of my parents house, which they had a date on originally and wiped out...doesn't have the solar panels on the top of the house.  Maybe it's just the angle they shot it at.  IDK, but I'm a little worried seeing this.