Political subdivisions of New York State
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.
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2 City 3 Town 4 Village 5 Hamlet 6 Borough 7 Special Districts |
The county is the primary political subdivision of the state. 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.
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.
Counties generally contain towns and cities as the next level of subordinate government.
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.
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.
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 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 of a 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.
A village in New York State is often called a town in other states.
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. 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.
County
City
Town
Village
Hamlet
Borough
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.