DMV offices to close for largescale technology upgrade
Published on:
January 21, 2026
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CATSKILL―State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices will be shutting down across New York for at least three days next month to implement the initial phase of a multi-year project to replace and modernize its aging technology systems.
Greene County Clerk Marilyn Farrell briefed county lawmakers on the plan this week, explaining that DMV will “undergo a largescale upgrade.”
“To bring the first part of the new system online, the state is seizing all county and state DMV operations, including online and phone systems, at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 13,” Farrell said.
“They are not taking the physical computers,” she clarified.“They are seizing the information to migrate it from one platform to another.”
In Greene County, the DMV office in Catskill will close at 1p.m. on February 13.
“We are closing at one because of the simple fact that I want to be able to get everybody that is there out,” Farrell said. “So, I’m going to advertise that we’re closing at one and hopefully we’ll be able to have everybody out.”
Offices will remain closed through Tuesday, February 17 with a planned reopening date of Wednesday, February 18. In Greene County, Farrell is aiming to be up and running at noon that day.
“That is provided we receive the go ahead from New York State DMV leaders,” Farrell said. “If the state has any problems they are not going to let us open up on Wednesday.”
“No DMV transactions will be able to be completed during this period, including through the state website, and they will not be answering their phones up there,” she added.
Over several days, the state DMV will move about 30 million records to a new system.
“With one consolidated, state-of-the-art system, we will be replacing hundreds of software applications, some of which date back to the days of Nelson Rockefeller,” said DMV Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder.
New York State has been developing the modern platform over the last two years. Farrell said the first phase, being implemented next month, will be for driver license records and phase two, rolled out in about two more years, will move vehicle registrations to the new system.
“I truly believe it will give our staff the ability to serve New Yorkers better, faster, and more comprehensively than ever before,” said Schroeder.
