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The purpose of this article is to describe, in simplest terms, the nature of the essential political subdivisions of the State of New York in the United States of America.
The reason for describing these is that the names used for the state's political subdivisions differ from most other states, leading to misunderstanding the governmental nature of an area. Some of the subordinate political divisions have executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as does the state government.
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 are divided into cities and towns.
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 List of New York counties
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.
See also: List of cities in New York
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. 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.
All residents of New York who do not live in a city or on an Indian reservation live in a town.
A town is usually governed by a town supervisor and trustees. The judicial branch is often a town justice of the peace.
A town in New York State is often called a township in other states.
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 that contains the village.
A village is governed by a mayor and lower elected officials, and must have a municipal building or village hall. The minimum requirement for a village is a mayor and a four-member village board. Villages may also have a village court.
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
A hamlet is an unincorporated area of a town. 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 many are not. This is for statistical purposes only, with no legal consequences.
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.
Special districts 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 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.
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 special districts may include fire, sanitation, police, water, and sewer.
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