Fees up on birth, death papers By Rick Armon Staff writer (July 11, 2004) — If you're planning on getting a new birth certificate in Monroe County — or, for that matter, a death certificate — do it soon so you can save a few bucks. The price of each will triple from $10 to $30 as a way to help raise nearly $1.4 million for the financially strapped county government. The state Legislature approved the increase late last month and the bill will be sent soon to Gov. George Pataki for his signature before it becomes effective. The fee apparently would be the highest for municipalities in New York. The state currently charges $30 for such documents, but the amount has been capped at $10 — not including any handling fees — for cities, counties, towns and villages. New York City charges $15. The good news is that new parents are given a birth certificate for free, so only people requesting additional documents would be charged. But multiple death certificates are often needed for legal tasks such as transferring real estate, stocks and bank accounts. And that will increase the cost of funeral services. The average family requests between six and 10 death certificates, according to funeral directors. The cost hasn't increased in more than 10 years, officials said. Last year in Monroe County, there were about 41,000 requests for death certif icates and 28,000 for birth certificates. The county budget estimates there will be about 10,000 births and 7,000 deaths here this year. The additional money would pay for the operation of the county's vital records office, which oversees the certificates, said John Ricci, a spokesman for the Health Department. The County Legislature last year approved the increase, which also included a jump in the fee for genealogy searches from $10 to $30, as part of the 2004 budget. At the time, county officials had to close a gap of about $42 million. Democrat and Chronicle July 11, 2004 Just thought you might want to have this information in case you are researching ancestors in NYS. Judy Neu Springwater, NY