Starting next year, the Town of North Hempstead will maintain birth, death and historical records for the Village of Mineola.
The village would lose $20,000 this year by continuing to maintain the records and that number would grow exponentially if left unattended, Village of Mineola Clerk Joseph Scalero said.
The village and town signed an inter-municipal agreement to begin the estimated 12-month process of transferring old records in the new year, North Hempstead Town Clerk Wayne Wink said.
Concurrently, the town will receive and maintain new birth and death records within the village.
In addition to the money the village stands to lose, a state cap on records fees that has remained unchanged for at least 20 years made the decision economically feasible, Scalero said.
The decision for the town to take over maintenance of the records comes in part as a result of the village’s expenses outweighing the revenue generated, Wink said.
Throughout that process, records will remain accessible to the public through the town’s records software, Wink said. Once the transfer is complete, anyone who from Mineola who wishes to obtain a birth or death record will have to visit Town Hall in Manhasset.
Since 1906 the village has maintained all birth and death records.
Mineola’s population was 19,387 in 2017, according to census data.
Winthrop University Hospital falls into the village’s records jurisdiction, contributing to the high volume of birth and death records. The village previously processed around 6,000 birth and death records a year, Scalero said.
The town currently acts as a registrar for 19 villages, making Mineola number 20, but has not performed a transfer of records like this before, Wink said.
“It makes sense for the town to handle these records because of the how frequently we interact with the state,” Wink said. “And the village has a right to name the town clerk as registrar, so this is going to be a sizable registry to assume.”
