Residence Requirements:

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE BEEN LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE WRITTEN TEST AND MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT.  At present there is one anticipated vacancy at the Erie County Department of Real Property Tax Services.  

Examples of Duties:

A Searcher searches and examines County Clerk’s records relating to sale of real estate in the County;

Prepares reports and memoranda on facts found in such searches and records of property sales from deeds and other public documents;

Examines and abstracts City and County records related to real property;

Computes mortgage data on each deed recorded; locates and identifies property on tax maps;

Makes sketches of maps including geographical designations and scales land measurements including converting measurements to footage basis;

Assists in the preparation of department reports.

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test: 

Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and one year of business or office experience including one year in the sale of real estate and performing title searches.

Notes:

1.  Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements.

The New York State Department of Civil Service has not prepared a test guide for this examination. However, candidates may find information in the publication "General Guide to Written Tests" helpful in preparing for this test. This publication is available online at: https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm

Subjects of Examination:

Subjects of Examination: A written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

1. Data collection

These questions test for a knowledge of the variables that are collected for residential, commercial, vacant and farm properties.

Hypothetical situations may be used to test for candidate knowledge, skill, and ability in this area.

The majority of these questions are based on the terms, concepts, and principles of data collection that are contained in the Department of Taxation and Finances' data collection manuals which can be found at www.tax.ny.gov/research/property/assess/manuals/assersmanual.htm

2. Preparing written material

These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.

3. Interpretation of real property descriptions and locations of real property as described

These questions test for the ability to plot and interpret deeds, to read and interpret maps, to calculate land areas, and to perform other calculations pertaining to land surveying. These questions also test for a knowledge of the definitions of terms often used when performing these tasks.

4. Understanding and interpreting abstracts, deeds, and other documents related to real property

These questions test for the ability to understand and apply information contained in documents related to real property and include examples, illustrations and applications of laws and procedures in relation to the reading and interpretation of title abstracts, deeds and other related documents.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES:  Unless otherwise noted, candidates are permitted to use quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculators.  Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", "Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited.  You may not bring books or other reference materials.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.