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New York · Southern Tier · #600 Most Populous County in the US
Steuben County, New York
New York's Southern Tier glass and wine county - from Corning's world-famous Corning Museum of Glass and Corning Incorporated's global headquarters to the Finger Lakes Wine Trail's southern gateway, Hornell's railroad heritage, and the Chemung River valley landscape connecting the Southern Tier to the Pennsylvania border. Property tax, courts, public records, and senior services for Steuben County residents.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Steuben County's assessment ratio means effective tax rates are low — but incorrect appraisals still cost money. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Office: Steuben County Office of Emergency Services – Bath, NY
Services: Oversees Fire, EMS, and Disaster Services countywide.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: NY-54 and NY-53 serve Bath, the county seat; I-86 runs through Corning, the county’s largest city
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Steuben County Public Works – 3 E Pulteney Square, Bath, NY 14810, (607) 664-2470
Services: Handles building permits directly for the Towns of Addison, Campbell, and Tuscarora on the county’s behalf; Code Enforcement Officer has up to 30 days to review applications; fees payable by check to Steuben County Commissioner of Finance or cash. Other towns and villages issue their own separate building permits.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Steuben County Veterans Service Agency – Bath, NY
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Davenport Library (now the Steuben County Historical Society building) and a newer library campus in Bath, NY – the historic Davenport Library building, constructed circa 1830 in the Greek Revival style, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; a new library building was constructed on the same campus in 1999.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Steuben County is genuinely home to the Corning Museum of Glass in the city of Corning, the largest museum in the world devoted to the art, history, and science of glass, founded in 1951 by Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated); the museum houses more than 50,000 glass objects spanning 3,500 years of glassmaking history, from ancient Egyptian and Roman pieces to Tiffany stained glass windows and cutting-edge contemporary art, and draws roughly 400,000 visitors annually; the county is genuinely the birthplace of world-changing glass innovations including Pyrex, CorningWare, fiber optics, and Gorilla Glass, all developed by Corning Incorporated, which remains headquartered in the city; the museum’s campus includes a 500-seat Amphitheater Hot Shop, the world’s largest space for watching live glassblowing demonstrations, and the Rakow Research Library, the foremost archive on the history of glassmaking anywhere in the world
Notes: Steuben County’s genuine status as home to the world’s largest glass museum and the birthplace of some of the most consequential glass innovations in modern history makes it one of the more distinctive counties found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Steuben County GIS – accessible via steubencountyny.gov
Parcel Search: Steuben County Real Property Tax Service – Bath, NY
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Steuben County Office of Emergency Services
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Finger Lakes SPCA – 72 Cameron Street, Bath, NY 14810 | (607) 776-3039 | Hours: Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat 11 AM–4 PM (adoptions until 3:30 PM; closed Thu and Sun)
Services: Genuinely founded in 1949 as the Bath Animal Shelter, a no-kill 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving Steuben County; enforces NY State animal cruelty laws.
Related: Community Humane Shelter of Steuben County – founded in 1973, supports over 2,000 animals annually.
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
Steuben County’s Corning is genuinely home to the world’s largest glass museum and the birthplace of major glass innovations including Pyrex and fiber optics. 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 Steuben County
Steuben County is New York’s Southern Tier county and the 600th most populous in the United States, covering 1,394 square miles of the Chemung and Cohocton river valleys in western New York’s Appalachian foothills.
Corning (population ~11,000) is far larger in global economic significance than its population suggests – home to Corning Incorporated, one of the world’s leading specialty glass and ceramics manufacturers. Corning Incorporated’s innovations have shaped modern technology – the company invented Pyrex laboratory and cookware glass, developed the glass envelope for the incandescent light bulb with Thomas Edison, created Gorilla Glass (the scratch-resistant glass used in virtually all smartphones and tablets), and pioneered optical fiber communications technology. Corning’s global headquarters remaining in this small New York city is an extraordinary corporate heritage story.
The Corning Museum of Glass – arguably the world’s greatest museum dedicated to a single material – houses over 45,000 glass objects spanning 3,500 years of human glassmaking, from ancient Egyptian core-formed vessels to contemporary art glass. The museum’s hot glass demonstrations, flameworking studios, and studio facilities make it one of New York’s most visited attractions outside New York City.
Bath (the county seat, population ~5,500) is a small county seat community on the Cohocton River – the governmental center for Steuben County.
Hornell (population ~8,000) is a railroad heritage city – Alstom (formerly Bombardier Transportation) has maintained a railcar manufacturing facility in Hornell, producing Amtrak cars and subway cars for major US transit systems.
The Steuben County wine trails – anchoring the southern end of the Finger Lakes wine region – extend into the county’s northern sections around Hammondsport and Keuka Lake.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
New York assessment practices vary by municipality. File a Grievance with your municipality’s Board of Assessment Review by Grievance Day – third Tuesday in May. If dissatisfied, file SCAR by October 1 or Article 7. NY estate tax above $7.16 million with the 105% cliff. No NY inheritance tax.
OWNWELL CTA: Steuben County Grievance Day: third Tuesday in May. Corning Inc. anchors stable residential market; Finger Lakes wine trail communities appreciate. NY estate tax above $7.16M with cliff. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Recommended
Steuben County Grievance Day: third Tuesday in May. Corning Inc. anchors stable residential market; Finger Lakes wine trail communities appreciate. NY estate tax above $7.16M with cliff. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
Surrogate’s Court (Probate): The Steuben County Surrogate’s Court at 3 E. Pulteney Square, Bath, NY 14810, phone 607-776-9631, handles wills, estate administration, and guardianships. County Clerk at same address maintains land records searchable online.
Senior Services
The Steuben County Office for the Aging at 3 E. Pulteney Square, Bath, NY 14810, phone 607-776-9631, serves the county’s senior population. Corning Hospital (Guthrie Health) provides significant geriatric care.
Recommended
Assisted living, memory care, and independent living across Steuben County - from Corning and Bath to Hornell, Hammondsport, and the Finger Lakes southern communities.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
3 East Pulteney Sq, Bath, NY 14810
(607) 664-2249
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Steuben County Surrogate’s Court, Bath (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Steuben 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
Steuben County Surrogate’s Court 3 East Pulteney Square, Bath, NY 14810 (607) 622-8198 Steuben County is in New York’s Southern Tier, seated in Bath.
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
7007 Rumsey St Ext, Bath, NY 14810
(607) 776-7009
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
3 East Pulteney Sq, Bath, NY 14810
(607) 664-2260
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
3 East Pulteney Sq, Bath, NY 14810
(607) 664-2438
Social Services
3 East Pulteney Sq, Bath, NY 14810
(607) 664-2488
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Steuben County Public Health Department – Bath, NY | Public Health Nursing: (607) 776-9631
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Recommended for New York
Ownwell
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