Montgomery Co. limits DMV services to county residents

FONDA, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Montgomery County Department of Motor Vehicles in Fonda will be limiting its transactions to county residents. The change will take effect on Monday.

According to Montgomery County Clerk Brittany Kolbe, the limitation is as a result of staffing shortages and an uptick in customer volume as the deadline to get the REAL ID approaches. According to Kolbe, the change will only be temporary.

"Ongoing staffing issues, coupled with the enormous increase in volume we're seeing due to the impending REAL ID deadline, has forced us to make the tough decision to limit our services to Montgomery County residents only," Kolbe said. "This is a temporary change until we can adequately staff our department."

The Rensselaer County DMV also restricted some of its services on Tuesday as a result of similar demand strains. Until further notice, only Rensselaer County residents will be able to apply for REAL IDs and Enhanced IDs in the Troy and East Greenbush DMV offices.

"We take pride in our outstanding customer service, but the large crowds are placing tremendous stress on our staff which may affect future customer service,” Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola said. “I understand that NYS DMV is looking to open on Saturdays effective April 4 in order to deal with the Real ID crunch, but there are not enough Saturdays left before the deadline to effectively deal with the number of people.”

NEWS10 reached out to the NYS DMV following Montgomery County's limitation announcement. The department said that the increase in REAL ID applications was expected.

"Montgomery County is far from alone in seeing an increase in REAL ID applications, as was well anticipated given the pending May 7 deadline," NYS DMV said. "NYS DMV has been advising customers for years to get a REAL ID before the deadline, to avoid the last-minute rush that we knew would burden both state and county-operated DMV offices."

In its statement to NEWS10, NYS DMV also reminded New Yorkers that a passport and several other documents are acceptable in place of a REAL ID. Additionally, unless you have an upcoming flight planned, it is not necessary to scramble to the DMV to meet the May 7 deadline.

"Unless someone plans to fly in the near-future, they have time to wait before going to the DMV to get a REAL ID," NYS DMV said.

For those who do still need to get to get their REAL ID and want the process as streamlined as possible, the NYS DMV website has a guide to the documents needed in order to apply. Additionally, many DMV offices allow customers to prescreen their documents so that they can confirm that they have everything they need before going to the office.

The DMV also recommends reserving your REAL ID or Enhanced ID appointment. More information on the new ID requirements can be found on the NYS DMV website.