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This article describes the political subdivisions of the State of New York in the United States of America.
The names used for New York's political subdivisions differ from most other states, leading to misunderstandings regarding the governmental nature of an area. Some of the subordinate political divisions have executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as does the state government.
Whether a municipality is a city, town or village is not dependant on population or area, but on the form of government selected by the residents and approved by the state legislature.
County
The county is the primary political subdivision of the state. There are sixty-two counties in the state, five of which are boroughs of New York City. Counties contain a number of towns and may also contain cities. Towns may contain villages and hamlets. Every county has a county seat, often the most populous city or village, where the county government is located.
Counties are responsible for certain functions of planning and governance for all areas within their borders that are not delegated to lower levels of government. These often include overall planning, police service, social welfare, and coordination of special and extended education service.
According to the State of New York Local Government Handbook, "The county is now a municipal corporation with geographical jurisdiction, homerule powers and fiscal capacity to provide a wide range of services to its residents. To some extent, counties have evolved into a form of “regional” government that performs specified functions and which encompasses, but does not necessarily supersede, the jurisdiction of the cities, towns and villages within its borders."
A county is usually governed by a county executive and legislature, or may be governed by a Board of Supervisors of its constituent towns. Also the counties have a county court with associated county prosecutors.
City
A city is a highly autonomous incorporated area within a county. It provides almost all services to its residents and has the highest degree of home rule and taxing jurisdiction over its residents.
There are no minimum population or area requirements in order to become a city. With the exception of New York City and Albany, which were granted city charters in 1686 by the English colonial governor, cities are established by act of the state legislature and granted a charter.
Cities are governed by a mayor and other elected officials such as councilmen. Larger cities have city courts.
New York City is a special case. The City consists of the entire area of five counties. These counties retain a small amount of governance as boroughs (see Borough below).
Under the state legislation that allowed the city (as the City of Greater New York) to annex huge areas beyond its original borders (including smaller cities, towns and villages) in 1898, the State of New York retains certain powers over the city.
Town
A town is the major subdivision of each county. Towns provide or arrange for most municipal services for residents of hamlets and selected services for residents of villages. All residents of New York who do not live in a city or on an Indian reservation live in a town.
Towns lack a strong executive branch of government. Most power rests in the legislature, called the town board. The town supervisor presides over the board, but does not posses veto or tie-breaking power. The judicial branch is often a town justice of the peace.
A town can contain zero, one or multiple villages. Five towns are coterminous with their single village: Green Island in Albany County; East Rochester in Monroe County; and Scarsdale, Harrison and Mount Kisco in Westchester County.
A town in New York State is often called a township in other states.
Village
A village is an incorporated area, usually, but not always, within a single town. A village is a clearly defined municipality that provides the services closest to the residents, such as garbage collection, street and highway maintenance, street lighting and building codes. Some villages provide their own police and other optional services. Villages have less autonomy than cities. Those municipal services not provided by the village are provided by the town(s) that contain(s) the village.
The legislature of a village is the board of trustees, composed of a mayor and (usually) four trustees. The mayor may vote in business before the board and may break a tie. The mayor generally does not posses veto power, unless provided by local law. The mayor is also the excutive of the village. A village may also have a full-time village manager, who performs administrative duties which would normally fall upon the mayor. A village must have a municipal building or village hall. Villages may also have a village justice.
To be incorporated as a village a territory (i.e., given area) must have at least 500 inhabitants and be no more that 5 square miles in area (though there are exceptions to the area rule, such as if an entire town wishes to incorporate as a village). The process of incorporation begins with a petition by either 20% of residents or owners of 50% of assessed real property. It is then voted upon by those living in the territory.
Villages often cross other political boundaries. More than 70 villages are located in two or more towns. Seven villages are divided among two counties. The village of Saranac Lake is in three towns and two counties.
A village in New York State is often called a town in other states.
See also: List of villages in New York
Hamlet
A hamlet is an area of a town that is not part of a village. A hamlet could be described as the rural or suburban equivalent of a neighborhood in a city or village. The area of a hamlet may not be exactly defined and may simply be contained within the zip code of its post office, or may be defined by its school district.
The hamlet does not have a formal government and receives all its municipal services from the town that contains the hamlet.
For census purposes, the land area of a hamlet may be formally defined as a census-designated place, though most are not. This is for statistical purposes only, with no legal consequences.
Subdivisions particular to New York City
Borough
A borough is a political subdivision of New York City only and not New York State or of any other city in the state. Each of the five boroughs of New York City is coextensive with one its five counties.
The boroughs were originally intended to retain some local governance in the consolidated city that was formed in 1898. Each borough individually elects a borough president. The borough presidents once wielded considerable power as members of the City's Board of Estimate, but their positions now are largely ceremonial and advisory. Likewise, the boroughs and their residents have little distinct power within the City.
Community board
Community boards are what the New York City government Web site (http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/cb_main.shtml) refers to as "local representative bodies". The community boards, however, are unelected. They consist of fifty unpaid members appointed by the borough president. Half of the members are nominated by the City Council members who represent the area. The power of the community boards is very limited. They serve in an advisory capacity regarding land use and zoning, budget and various concerns of the community. The boards can recommend action on the part of the city government, but it cannot enforce it. There are fifty-nine community boards, identified by borough name and a number (e.g. Brooklyn Community Board 10).
Special purpose units of government
Special purpose units of government provide specialized services only to those who live in the district, and are empowered to tax residents of the district for the services provided in common. Special districts often cross the lines of towns, villages and hamlets, but rarely cities or counties.
School districts
School districts are the most common kind of special district. They provide, arrange or contract for all public education services, including special ed and school transportation, the latter also for non-public schools.
School districts are often not precisely coextensive with the villages or hamlets that bear the same name, meaning that a person living in one hamlet or village might send their children to a school associated with a different hamlet or village. Residents pay school taxes to the same school district in which they live and their children attend school.
All but five school districts are separate from municipal governments. The exceptions are the five cities whose populations exceed 125,000 (Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers), in which education is part of the municipal budget.
There are five types of school districts in the state: common school districts, union free school districts, central school districts, city school districts and central high school districts.
Fire districts
Fire districts are public corporations which generally provide fire protection and other emergency response in towns outside villages. Villages generally provide their own fire protection, but joint town-village fire districts are permitted. A fire district can levy taxes and incur debt. Although they operate under certain fiscal restrictions, these districts enjoy a great deal of autonomy in budgeting. The town which the district serves receives the budget and collects the taxes but has no power to amend the budget.
Library districts
Library districts are usually coextensive with the same school district but raise taxes separately and serve all the residents of the library district. They often form cooperative assocations with other library districts for shared services, purchasing and cross-library lending.
Other types of special purpose units
Other special districts may include sanitation, police, water, and sewer.
Home Rule
Incorporated municipal governments (aka "general purpose units of local government"; i.e., counties, cities, towns and villages) in New York State have been granted broad home rule powers enabling them to provide services to their residents and to regulate the quality of life within their jurisdictions. They do so while adhering to the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of New York. Articles IX (titled "Local Government") and VIII (titled "Local Finances") of the State Constitution establish the rights and responsibilities of the municipal governments.
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