Historically, the need to provide services for population centers prompted the creation of cities. Beyond that common factor, it is difficult to ascertain common purposes or to generalize about their structures, charters granted to cities in New York differ widely.

No general law provides authority for the incorporation of cities; there is no statutory minimum size, either in population or geographical area, which must be met for an area to become a city. Furthermore, there is no concept of progression from village to city status. The primary difference between a city and a village is that the organization and powers of cities is set out in their own charters, while most villages are organized and governed pursuant to provisions of the Village Law. Also, unlike a city, a village is part of a town, and its residents pay town taxes and receive town services.

The Legislature may incorporate any community of any size as a city. In fact, most of the state’s 62 cities have populations smaller than the population of the largest village, whereas over 150 of the state’s 544 villages have populations greater than that of the smallest city. As a practical matter, the State Legislature does not create cities without clear evidence from a local community that its people desire incorporation. This evidence ordinarily is a locally drafted charter submitted to the Legislature for enactment and a home rule message from local governments that would be impacted by the incorporation.

Historically, the Legislature enacted a charter to meet the specific needs of a center of population. As these centers grew, expanded and experienced changing needs, these charters were amended by special acts of the Legislature. Later on, cities gained the authority to revise and adopt new charters without the approval of the State Legislature. As a result, there is little uniformity in city charters throughout the state, as each city has, by trial and error, determined for itself what it believes to be the most effective form of government.

New York cities, as instrumentalities created individually by the Legislature, struggled long and hard for greater authority to manage their own affairs as they saw fit. Not until the late 1800’s did the Legislature begin to legislate for cities generally rather than passing specific laws on individual local matters.

In 1848, the State Constitution was amended to ensure the integrity of elections of local officials. Prior to this time, there had been continual battles between the State and the cities of New York and Brooklyn over state-imposed changes of local officials who had been elected by city voters. The state would regularly move in and appoint local officials, thereby nullifying local elections. After 1848 the state could no longer do this, and in 1854 the mayor of New York City demanded, and at last received, authority to appoint his agency heads.

Despite such changes, however, cities often were subjected to legislative intervention. In 1857, for example, the Legislature created a new police force in New York City and Brooklyn because of allegations of police corruption. Nine years later the state temporarily took over New York City’s health and excise departments, despite a court battle by the mayor.

Municipal home rule was a major issue at the Constitutional Convention of 1894. The Constitution of 1894, as amended in Article 12, section 2, divided cities into three classes by population: First Class — 250,000 or over; Second Class— 50,000 to 250,000; and Third Class — under 50,000. This classification was intended to provide a scheme whereby the Legislature could legislate for municipalities by passing general laws and still meet the particular problems of each type of city. It was actually a compromise between those favoring regulation of particular city affairs through special laws, and those favoring the covering of all communities in one general scheme of regulations. In addition, provision was made to require that any law not applicable to all the cities in a class had to be submitted for approval to the mayors of the cities affected by it. If the mayors disapproved, the law was returned to the Legislature for reconsideration. In practice, however, mayoral vetoes seldom were overridden. In 1907 a Constitutional amendment altered the classification of cities so that all cities with a population over 175, 000 became First Class. This, of course, narrowed the population range of Second Class cities.

Over the years, the Legislature has enacted a number of major general laws affecting cities. The General Municipal Law enacted in 1892 covered cities as well as other forms of local government. The General City Law of 1909 applied specifically to cities. It granted certain powers to cities generally, and at the same time regulated their administration. In 1913 the General City Law was amended to grant to each city the power “…​to regulate, manage, and control its property and local affairs…​” as well as “…​the rights, privileges and jurisdiction necessary and proper for carrying such power into execution.” ^[1]

The General City Law also granted specific powers in a number of areas, such as construction and maintenance of public works, expenditure of public funds, provision of pensions for public employees and, by an amendment in 1917, zoning. This legislation, which is still in effect, authorizes cities to implement these powers by enacting ordinances. Since the enactment of the Municipal Home Rule Law in 1964, all of these powers may also be exercised by local law.

Attempts by the State Legislature to address the question of city government structure included the Second Class Cities Law of 1906 and the Optional City Government Law of 1914. The Second Class Cities Law, which in effect provided a uniform charter for cities of the second class, is still operative for cities that were cities of the second class on December 31, 1923.

The way was opened in 1923 for cities to establish by local charter the form of government they wished, for in that year the voters approved a Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution and the Legislature enacted a City Home Rule Law. These actions spelled out the power of cities to amend their charters or adopt new charters by local law, without going to the Legislature. Under the Home Rule Amendment cities also were empowered to enact local laws dealing with their “property, affairs or government” as long as these laws were not inconsistent with the Constitution or general laws of the state. The Legislature was specifically prohibited from legislating on these matters, except through general laws affecting all cities alike. The tripartite constitutional classification of cities was abolished, except as it applied to the second class cities then in existence. The provisions of the City Home Rule Law were incorporated without substantial changes into the present Municipal Home Rule Law when it was enacted in 1964.

Abolition of the classification of cities in the 1923 constitutional amendment raised questions concerning the terms first, second and third class cities, which in some cases still exist. Since 1894 many statutes have referred to one or more of these designated classes of cities. Although most of these laws have been amended, revised or repealed, some are still in effect and statutes using these terms of classification have been enacted since 1923. Although it has been generally agreed that these statutes are constitutional, the problem arises as to how to interpret the classifications in the absence of a constitutional definition. References to classes of cities occurring in statutes passed prior to January 1924 are interpreted under the assumption that the statute effectively incorporated the constitutional classification which was in effect on the effective date of the statute. With respect to laws passed after 1924, the approach to interpretation is less clear. Often it is assumed that each class means what it had come to mean through prior usage.

A city’s charter forms the legal basis for the operation of the city. The charter enumerates the basic authority of the city to govern, establishes the form of government, and sets up the legislative, executive and judicial branches of city government.

Each city has enacted and amended various ordinances and local laws over time and has often codified these enactments into a code of ordinances and/or local laws. Together, the charter and code prescribe the method and extent to which a city carries out its legal powers and duties.

Because all cities have separate charters granted by the State Legislature and all now have the power to revise their charters by local action, it is difficult to describe a common city structure. All cities have elected councils, but elections are by wards, at large, or a combination of the two. Most cities have mayors; some mayors are elected at large by the voters, while others are selected by the council. Otherwise, city government in New York exhibits a variety of forms. In general, city government falls into four broad categories:

All of these types of city government are found in New York State. Thirteen of the 62 cities have council-manager arrangements; three utilize the commission plan, one of which also has a city manager. The remaining 46 cities have the mayor-council form, three of which also have a city administrator; their governments are located at various points along a continuum between strong mayor and weak mayor. Within each group there are many hybrids. See Form of City Government.^[1] for a listing of cities, their 2010 populations and their forms of government.

No new weak mayor-council or commission forms of city government have been adopted in recent years, although two cities with the council-manager form have switched to the mayor-council form. At present, the strong mayor-council form is the most popular form of city government in this New York.

The comparatively greater frequency of the mayor-council form among New York cities can probably be attributed to both historic and socio-economic factors. The council-manager form occurs more frequently in younger cities of a more homogeneous composition found in the Midwest and the Far West. New York cities tend to be older than those in other parts of the country and tend to have more heterogeneous populations. In such cities the mayor-council form, especially with a strong mayor, has been more prevalent.

Although cities have the home rule power to revise their charters and adopt new charters, this authority is not unlimited, and must be exercised in accordance with the State Constitution and the Legislature’s grant of local law powers to cities. Cities act by law, which include adopting and amending charters that are not inconsistent with the State Constitution and are not inconsistent with any general law of the State. A city may act in the interest of good government, its management and business, the protection of its property, and the health, safety and welfare of its inhabitants.

Generally, city charters address the following topics:

Today New York State has 62 cities, ranging in population from 3,071 to over 8,000,000. There are 30 cities with a population of more than 20,000, including 13 with more than 50,000. Their geographic areas range from 0.9 to 303.7 square miles.

The problems of the large cities in the state reflect many complex elements of social change, but population changes are often seen as both cause and effect. All of the state’s large cities experienced rapid growth between 1900 and 1930. In those 30 years the populations of the six largest cities increased 98 percent — from 4,202,530 to 8,303,038 — an increase from 58 percent to 66 percent of the state’s total population. This surge in population was accompanied by a corresponding development in city facilities and services. The vast New York City Transit System was built, for example, and all cities built schools, roads, libraries, sewers, water systems, parks and a great array of other facilities to accommodate the needs and demands of their burgeoning populations.

This rapid growth tapered off during the depression decade between 1930 and 1940, and came to a halt in the 30 years from 1940 to 1970. In the period from 1970 to 1990 most cities experienced a population decline, and census estimates indicate that this trend has continued through the 2010’s. The population of New York City dropped nearly 11 percent during the period from 1970 to 1980, but had recovered nearly half this loss by 1996. During the same period, the collective population of the next five largest cities declined by nearly 23 percent.

The stabilization and subsequent decrease of population in the central cities has been accompanied by growth in the surrounding suburban communities. Following closely on the heels of the residential shift to the suburbs has been a decentralization of commerce and industry. Economic considerations have prompted businesses to turn to the suburbs in search of more and cheaper space for expansion. The cost savings, coupled with the shift of the labor supply, have made it increasingly more attractive for industry to locate outside the central cities.

A transformation has occurred over the years in the characteristics of the urban population. City populations generally include a comparatively large proportion of immigrants, persons of lower incomes and persons in the youngest and oldest age groups (under 5 and over 65).

Although New York City is the oldest city in the country’s 13 original states, its present city government is just over a century old. The city was assembled from a number of other counties, cities, towns and villages by the State Legislature after a more than 30-year effort by advocates of consolidation. The result of this governmental reorganization was the creation of five boroughs coterminous with county boundaries and the assembling of all five into the City of New York.

The present City of New York, the land area of which has remained basically unchanged since its consolidation in 1898, covers more than 303 square miles. Its population of over eight million is greater than that of 38 of the 50 states.

New York has been the most populous city in the United States since 1810. It currently has almost as many residents as the combined population of the next two most populous cities in the country. The city’s 2010 Census population was 8,175,133.

The 42 percent of New York State’s citizens who reside in New York City live in the only consolidated major local government in the state. There are five counties but no county governments. The area of the city contains no villages, no towns and no sub-city self-governing units.

In addition to the mayor, a comptroller and a public advocate are elected citywide. The council is composed of the public advocate and 51 council members, each of whom represents a council district.

In recent years, New York City has experimented with various forms of decentralization to meet a rising tide of objections from city residents that the government had become too remote and inaccessible. The most significant decentralization development has been the creation of 59 community boards.