County (New York)

The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local government services in the state of New York.

The state is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, which are all municipal corporations with their own governments that provide most local government services. Whether a municipality is defined as a city, town, or village is dependent not on population or land area, but rather on the form of government selected by the residents and approved by the state legislature. Each such government is granted varying home rule powers as provided by the New York Constitution. New York has various corporate entities that serve single purposes that are also local governments, such as school and fire districts.

New York has 62 counties, which are subdivided into 932 towns and 62 cities; it also has 10 Indian reservations. In total, the state has more than 3,400 active local governments and more than 4,200 taxing jurisdictions.

Incorporated municipal governments (also known as "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 VIII (titled "Local Finances") and IX (titled "Local Government", but commonly referred to as the "Home Rule" article) of the state constitution establish the rights and responsibilities of the municipal governments.

The New York State Constitution provides for democratically elected legislative bodies for counties, cities, towns and villages. These legislative bodies are granted the power to enact local laws as needed in order to provide services to their citizens and fulfill their various obligations.

The county is the primary administrative division of New York. There are sixty-two counties in the state. Five of the counties are boroughs of the city of New York and do not have functioning county governments. While originally created as subdivisions of the state meant to carry out state functions, counties are now considered municipal corporations with the power and fiscal capacity to provide an array of local government services. Such services generally include law enforcement and public safety, social and health services (such as Medicaid), and education (special needs and community colleges).

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