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New York County
Montgomery County, New York
Amsterdam's carpet manufacturing legacy and the Mohawk Valley's revolutionary heartland - from Amsterdam's position as the carpet manufacturing capital of the world in the early 20th century (the Mohawk, Bigelow, and other carpet companies made Amsterdam one of the most important textile manufacturing cities in America, employing thousands in mills along the Mohawk River) to Montgomery County's extraordinary Revolutionary War heritage (the Battle of Oriskany, Fort Plain, and dozens of Mohawk Valley engagements occurred in and around the county, making it one of the most fought-over landscapes of the American Revolution) and Fonda's Erie Canal corridor.
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Office: Montgomery County Emergency Management – Fonda, NY | (518) 853-4011
Services: Coordinates fire, EMS, and disaster preparedness for the county.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: NY-5, NY-5S, and NY-30A serve Fonda, the small county seat (population roughly 670), in the Mohawk Valley
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Individual towns and villages issue building permits – contact your specific municipality
Notes: Montgomery County itself does not centrally issue building permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Montgomery County Veterans Service Agency – Fonda, NY
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Frothingham Free Library – 28 W Main St, Fonda, NY 12068 | (518) 853-3016
Services: Serves Fonda and surrounding Montgomery County communities; part of the Mohawk Valley Library System (MVLS).
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Montgomery County is genuinely one of the most religiously and historically significant counties in the entire Mohawk Valley – the village of Auriesville, believed by Catholic historians to be near or at the site of the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, is home to the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs (also called the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs), founded in 1884 to honor three Jesuit missionaries martyred there in the 1640s; that same site is genuinely recognized as the birthplace of Kateri Tekakwitha, born around 1656 to a Mohawk father and Catholic Algonquin mother, who survived a smallpox epidemic that killed her family and later became known as the “Lily of the Mohawks” for her devout faith; in 2012, Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized as the first Native American saint in the history of the Catholic Church, drawing more than 2,000 Native Americans, many of them Mohawk, to Rome for the ceremony; nearby in Fonda, the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine & Historic Site marks the village of Caughnawaga, where she lived as a girl and was baptized in 1676; Montgomery County is also home to Guy Park Manor in Amsterdam, built in the 1770s by Sir William Johnson’s family, and lies along the historic Erie Canal corridor
Notes: Montgomery County’s genuine status as both the birthplace and site of the eventual canonization story of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Catholic saint, alongside the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, makes it one of the most historically and spiritually significant counties found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Montgomery County Planning & Economic Development – 9 Park Street, Fonda, NY 12068, (518) 853-8202
Parcel Search: Montgomery County Real Property Tax Service – Fonda, NY
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Montgomery County Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Montgomery County SPCA – 1007 NY-5S, Amsterdam, NY | (518) 842-8050 | Hours: Mon–Fri 11 AM–5 PM, Sat 10 AM–4 PM, Sun 12–4 PM (adoption transactions must start 30 minutes before close)
Services: Genuinely founded in 1904, an independent nonprofit that does not euthanize for space, keeping animals as long as needed to find a good home; promotes spay/neuter and proper pet care countywide.
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.
NOTES
Montgomery County’s Auriesville and Fonda are genuinely tied to the life and 2012 canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Catholic saint, and the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs. 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 Montgomery County
Montgomery County is the Mohawk Valley’s Revolutionary War and industrial heritage county – a community whose carpet mills and colonial military history define two distinct chapters of extraordinary achievement.
Amsterdam (population ~18,000) was the carpet capital of America in the early 20th century – the Mohawk Carpet Mills employed thousands and the city’s mill buildings along the Mohawk River represent one of the most significant industrial heritage landscapes in upstate New York.
Fonda (the county seat, population ~800) is one of New York’s smallest county seats – a Mohawk Valley community on the Erie Canal corridor whose courthouse serves the county’s governmental functions.
The Mohawk Valley’s Revolutionary War history – raids, sieges, and pitched battles between Patriot and Loyalist-Iroquois forces – made it one of the most violent frontiers of the American Revolution.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Montgomery County Real Property Tax Service at 20 Park Street, Fonda, NY 12068, phone 518-853-8133. Appeal to Board of Assessment Review.
Courts & Legal
Montgomery County Surrogate’s Court at 58 Broadway, Fonda, NY 12068, phone 518-853-8108, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
20 Park St, Fonda, NY 12068
(518) 853-8111
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Montgomery County Surrogate’s Court, Fonda (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Montgomery County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
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
Montgomery County Surrogate’s Court Montgomery County Courthouse, 58 Broadway (mail: P.O. Box 1500), Fonda, NY 12068 (518) 853-8151 Montgomery County is in New York’s Mohawk Valley, seated in Fonda.
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.
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
9366 State Hwy 67, Fonda, NY 12068
(518) 853-3521
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
64 Broadway, Fonda, NY 12068
(518) 853-8210
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
20 Park St, Fonda, NY 12068
(518) 853-4291
Social Services
20 Park St, Fonda, NY 12068
(518) 853-4646
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Montgomery County Health Department – Fonda, NY
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Fonda
Population: 49,000
Established: 1772
Tier: 3
Public Records
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