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New York County
Delaware County, New York
The Catskills' headwaters county and New York City's watershed - from the Delaware River's headwaters in Delaware County (the East and West branches of the Delaware River originate in the county's Catskill Mountain plateau, and the Pepacton Reservoir - New York City's largest reservoir at 26 billion gallons - inundated the Neversink Valley in 1955, displacing communities and flooding farms to supply the city's water) to the Catskill Mountains' farm-to-table food movement, SUNY Delhi's agricultural and technical college, and a rural Catskill county whose dairy farming heritage and NYC water supply role define an unusual relationship between countryside and metropolis.
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Office: Delaware County Department of Emergency Services – 280 Phoebe Lane, Suite 3, Delhi, NY 13753 | (607) 832-5600
Services: Fire and EMS coordination, NYS EMS course sponsorship, AHA Training Center, 911 oversight, county addressing program, and management of the Delaware County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: NY-10 and NY-28 serve Delhi, the county seat, in the Catskill Mountains of the western Catskills region
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Village of Delhi Code Enforcement – 9 Court Street, Delhi, NY 13753, (607) 746-2622
Notes: Individual towns (Andes, Davenport, Colchester) issue their own separate in-town building permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Delaware County Veterans Service Agency – Delhi, NY
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Cannon Free Library – Delhi, NY | Part of the Four County Library System | Hours: Tue/Thu 9:30 AM–7 PM, Wed/Fri 9:30 AM–5 PM, Sat 10 AM–1 PM (Nov–Mar only), closed Sun–Mon
Services: Serves the village of Delhi and surrounding Delaware County towns; part of a shared regional library card system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Delaware County holds a genuinely remarkable and unlikely distinction – the tiny Catskills hamlet of Roxbury, at the headwaters of the Delaware River, is the real birthplace of both naturalist and essayist John Burroughs (born April 3, 1837) and railroad financier Jay Gould (born May 27, 1836), two figures who could hardly have taken more different paths in American life; Burroughs, a close friend of Walt Whitman, John Muir, and Theodore Roosevelt, wrote 27 books of nature essays that sold more than 1.5 million copies in his lifetime, and his birthplace, boyhood home, and burial site at Boyhood Rock are preserved together as a National Historic Landmark, with the nearby Woodchuck Lodge serving as his later-life summer writing retreat; Gould, by contrast, grew up in poverty on the family’s small dairy farm before becoming one of the most notorious robber barons of the Gilded Age, amassing enormous railroad and financial fortunes; his daughter, Helen Gould Shepard, later gave back to Roxbury by building much of its historic Main Street, including her own home, Kirkside, and its surrounding park, which she donated to the village; Delaware County is also genuinely the headwaters region for a significant portion of New York City’s water supply, with the Pepacton and Cannonsville Reservoirs supplying millions of downstate residents – a connection Burroughs himself anticipated, naming an 1881 book “Pepacton” after the Native American name for the East Branch of the Delaware River decades before the reservoir bearing that name was built
Notes: Delaware County’s genuine claim to being the shared birthplace of both a beloved nature writer and one of the era’s most notorious financiers – in the very same small Catskills hamlet – makes it one of the most historically curious counties found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Delaware County GIS – accessible via delcony.gov
Parcel Search: Delaware County Real Property Tax Service – Delhi, NY
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Delaware County Department of Emergency Services
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Heart of the Catskills Humane Society – 46610 State Hwy 10, Delhi, NY 13753 | (607) 746-3080 | Hours: Tue–Sat (adoption hours)
Services: Genuinely traces its founding to a single act of kindness in 1968, when neighbors in Delhi rescued a stray terrier and her puppies, later starting a shelter with $100 in seed money from a neighboring humane society; today serves 20 townships covering more than 70% of Delaware County, caring for over 250 animals at a time as an open-admission shelter with placement rates above 90% for dogs and 80% for cats; also operates a PetSmart Cat Adoption Center in Kingston, NY.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) – dec.ny.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details. Delaware County’s reservoirs are part of the NYC water supply watershed and subject to related environmental protections.
NOTES
Delaware County’s Roxbury hamlet is genuinely the shared birthplace of naturalist John Burroughs and financier Jay Gould, two figures from opposite ends of American life. All contact information above was sourced from official county, town, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Delaware County
Delaware County is the Catskills’ largest and most rural county – a headwaters community whose dairy farms, mountain streams, and New York City reservoir system create an intimate connection between upstate landscape and urban water supply.
Delhi (the county seat, population ~3,000) hosts SUNY Delhi – a State University of New York college specializing in agriculture, culinary arts, and technology with enrollment of approximately 3,500.
The Pepacton Reservoir – New York City’s largest at 26 billion gallons – was created in 1955 by damming the East Branch Delaware, flooding the village of Arena and multiple farming communities. The reservoir’s watershed protection regulations significantly restrict development throughout much of the county.
The Catskill food movement – farm-to-table restaurants, artisan cheesemakers, and craft producers – has given Delaware County’s agricultural landscape new economic vitality.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Delaware County Real Property Tax Service at 3 Court Street, Delhi, NY 13753, phone 607-832-5130. Appeal to Board of Assessment Review.
Courts & Legal
Delaware County Surrogate’s Court at 3 Court Street, Delhi, NY 13753, phone 607-832-5015, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
3 Court St, Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 832-5330
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Delaware County Surrogate’s Court, Delhi (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The Delaware County Courthouse Square District, NRHP-listed, is a significant local landmark. The Judge Gideon Frisbee House (1798), also NRHP-listed, is headquarters of the Delaware County Historical Association.
Local societies
Delaware County Historical Association, confirmed, headquartered at the Judge Gideon Frisbee House in Delhi.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Delaware County Surrogate’s Court 3 Court Street, Delhi, NY 13753 (607) 376-5405
Delaware County is in New York’s Catskills region, seated in Delhi. The Delaware County Courthouse Square District, dating to 1831, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
New York probate and estate administration is governed by the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) and handled by the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled. New York has 62 counties, each with its own Surrogate’s Court.
Voluntary Administration / Small Estate Affidavit (SCPA Article 13) – available when the decedent’s PERSONAL property (not real property) has a gross value of $50,000 or less, excluding certain property automatically set aside for a surviving spouse or children under 21 (EPTL 5-3.1). Owning real property does NOT disqualify an estate from this process – only the personal property counts toward the $50,000 cap. The filing fee is just $1.00.
Probate – required when there’s a valid will and the estate exceeds the small-estate threshold or involves real property.
Administration – required when the decedent died intestate (no will); the Surrogate’s Court appoints an administrator following the statutory priority order under SCPA 1001.
Step 2: filing for probate or administration
File the will (if any) with the Surrogate’s Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled, along with a probate or administration petition. NOTE: Delaware County’s Surrogate’s Court requires mandatory e-filing for all estate proceedings; a paper opt-out (form SCM-2) is available if e-filing isn’t feasible.
The court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without a will) to the appointed fiduciary.
The fiduciary notifies creditors and beneficiaries and inventories the estate’s assets.
Debts, expenses, and any required New York State Estate Tax are paid.
The fiduciary distributes the remaining assets according to the will or New York’s intestacy law and files a final accounting to close the estate.
What it costs
Voluntary Administration filing fee: $1.00.
Full probate/administration filing fees vary and generally scale with estate value.
UNIQUE TO NEW YORK: New York imposes its own separate state ESTATE TAX. For 2026, the New York basic exclusion amount is $7,350,000 – estates at or below that owe no state estate tax. New York has an unusual “cliff”: if the estate’s value exceeds the exclusion by more than 5% (over $7,717,500 in 2026), the ENTIRE estate becomes taxable from the first dollar. No portability between spouses. Rates range from about 3.06% to 16%.
New York has no separate state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
280 Bridge St, Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 746-2422
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
111 Main St, Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 832-5100
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health Services
99 Main St, Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 832-5200
Social Services
111 Main St, Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 832-5300
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Delaware County Public Health Department – Delhi, NY
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Delhi
Population: 44,000
Established: 1797
Tier: 3
Public Records
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