A territory of 500 or more inhabitants may incorporate as a village in New York State, provided that the territory is not already part of a city or village. The territory must contain no more than five square miles at the time of incorporation, although it may be larger in land area if its boundaries are made coterminous with those of a school, fire, improvement or other district, or the entire boundaries of a town.

The incorporation process begins when a petition, signed by either 20 percent of the residents of the territory qualified to vote, or by the owners of more than 50 percent of the assessed value of real property in the territory, is submitted to the supervisor of the town in which all or the greatest part of the proposed village would lie. If the area lies in more than one town, copies of the petition are presented to the supervisors of the other affected towns.

Within 20 days from the filing of the petition the supervisor of each town affected must post a notice of public hearing on the petition. Where the proposed village is in more than one town, the giving of notice and subsequent hearing are a joint effort of the affected towns. The purpose of the hearing is to determine only whether the petition and the proposed incorporation are in conformance with the provisions of the Village Law. Other considerations and objections to the incorporation are not at issue. This formal hearing must be held between 20 and 30 days following posting of notice.

Within 10 days after the conclusion of the hearing the supervisor of the affected town must judge the legal sufficiency of the petition. If more than one town is involved and the supervisors cannot agree on a decision, their decision is deemed to be adverse to the petition. Any decision made is subject to review by the courts. If no review is sought within 30 days, the decision of the supervisor is final. If the supervisor decides against the petition, a new petition may be presented immediately. If the supervisor finds that the petition meets the requirements of the law or if the petition is sustained by the courts, a referendum is held within the proposed area no later than 40 days after the expiration of 30 days from the filing of the supervisors’ favorable decision, or the filing of a final court order sustaining the petition. Only those residing in the proposed area of incorporation and qualified to vote in town elections may vote in the referendum.

Where the proposed area lies in one town, a majority of those voting is required in order to incorporate. Where more than one town is involved, an affirmative majority in the area proposed for incorporation in each town is required. If the required majorities are not obtained, then the question is defeated, and no new proceeding for incorporation of the same territory may be held for one year. If a favorable vote is obtained, and there is no court challenge, the town clerk of the town in which the original petition has been filed makes a report of incorporation.

The report is sent to the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the State Office of Real Property Services, the county clerk and county treasurer of each county in which the village will be located, and the town clerks of each town in which the village will be located.

Upon receipt of the report, the Secretary of State prepares and files a Certificate of Incorporation. The certificate is also filed with the clerks of each town in which the village is located. The village is deemed incorporated on the date the report is filed with the Secretary of State. Within five days after the filing of the Certificate of Incorporation, the clerks of each town in which the village is located jointly appoint a resident of the new village area to serve as village clerk until a successor is chosen by the village’s first elected board of trustees. Election of the board and mayor is held within 60 days of the appointment of the interim village clerk, except in instances where the new village embraces the entire territory of a town. In that case the election of village officers is held at the next regular election of town officials occurring not less than 30 days after the filing of the certificate of village incorporation.

The legislative body of a village — the board of trustees — is composed of the mayor and four trustees. However, the board may increase or decrease the number of trustees, subject to either referendum on petition or mandatory referendum, depending on how the local law is structured. Trustees are elected for a two-year term unless otherwise provided by local law.

The village board has broad powers to govern the affairs of the village, including:

The mayor presides over meetings of the board. A majority of the board, as fully constituted, is a quorum. No business may be transacted unless a quorum is present.

The chief executive officer of most villages in New York State is the mayor. Unless otherwise provided by local law or charter, the mayor is elected for a two-year term. In addition to executive duties, the mayor presides over all meetings of the board of trustees and may vote on all questions coming before that body. The mayor must vote to break a tie. Unless provided by local law the mayor does not have veto power. The mayor is responsible for enforcing laws within the village and for supervising the police and other officers of the village. The mayor may share the law-enforcement responsibility with a village attorney — who may handle prosecutions for violations of village laws — and the county district attorney — who usually handles general criminal prosecutions in the county.

At the direction of the board of trustees, the mayor may initiate civil action on behalf of the village or may intervene in any legal action “necessary to protect the rights of the village and its inhabitants.” Subject to the approval of the board of trustees, the mayor appoints all department and non-elected officers and employees. Except in villages which have a manager, the mayor acts as the budget officer. The mayor may, however, designate any other village officer to be budget officer. The budget officer serves at the mayor’s pleasure. The mayor ensures that all claims against the village are properly investigated; the mayor may also execute contracts approved by the board of trustees and issue licenses. In certain cases, when authorized by the board of trustees, the mayor may sign checks and cosign, with the clerk, orders to pay claims.

At the annual meeting of the board of trustees, the mayor appoints one of the trustees as deputy mayor. If the mayor is absent or unable to act as mayor, the deputy mayor is vested with and may perform all the duties of that office.

In order to provide full-time administrative supervision and direction some villages have created the office of village manager or administrator. The position of village manager is created by a local law, which fixes the powers of the office and the term of the incumbent. As an alternative to direct adoption of a local law establishing a village manager, a village may create a commission to prepare a local law establishing a village manager and defining the manager’s duties and responsibilities. The commission must issue a report within the time set forth in the local law, which can be no later than two years after the appointment of its members. While there is no mandate that the commission prepare a local law creating a village manager, if the commission does prepare such a local law, it must be placed before the voters at a referendum; the board of trustees need not approve the local law.

The village manager is usually assigned administrative functions which would otherwise performed by the mayor. Under the Village Law, the manager may designate another village official as budget officer, to serve at the pleasure of the manager.

Fifty five villages in New York State had an administrator or manager in 2005; they are listed in Villages Which Have Administrators/Managers ^[1]. Some of these individuals hold more than one title and some are known as “coordinator”.

The village treasurer is the chief fiscal officer of the village. The treasurer maintains custody of all village funds, issues all checks and prepares an annual report of village finances.

The village clerk has responsibility for maintaining all records of the village. The clerk collects all taxes and assessments, when authorized by the village board, and orders the treasurer to pay claims. The clerk is required “on demand of any person” to “produce for inspection the books, records and papers of the office.” The clerk must keep an index of written notices of defective conditions on village streets, highways, bridges or sidewalks and must bring these notices to the attention of the board at the next board meeting or within 10 days after their receipt, whichever is sooner.

Unless local law provides otherwise, the mayor appoints both the clerk and the treasurer with the approval of the board of trustees. The village board may also establish a term of office for each position by local law. In many villages, the offices of clerk and treasurer are combined and are held by a single person.

The board of trustees may establish the office of village justice. Where no village justice is established, or where the office has been abolished, the functions devolve on the justices of the town — or towns — in which the village is located.

Differences in the size of villages and in the services they perform make it difficult to describe the organization of a “typical” village. Larger villages often have multi-departmental organizations similar to cities, while small villages may employ one or two individuals. Functions performed by villages range from basic road repair and snow removal to large-scale community development programs and public utility plants. A number of villages operate their own municipal electric systems.

The major state aid program which provides funds to villages is per capita revenue sharing. Other important components of state aid to villages include the mortgage tax, aid for the construction and operation of sewage treatment plants, and aid to youth bureaus and recreation programs. A more detailed discussion of revenue sharing and other state aid appears in [administering_local_finances#administering_local_finances].

The mortgage tax is a state tax which is collected by counties. The allocation to towns is made according to the location of the real property covered by the mortgages upon which the tax was collected. For towns which contain a village within its limits, a portion of the town allocation is made to the village according to the proportion the assessed value of the village bears to twice the total assessed valuation of the town. While a village, under this formula, would receive aid even if no mortgages were registered in a village, the town may receive the greater amount of revenue, even though much of the property which yields the revenue may be within villages in the town.

The power to zone the area of the village separately from the remainder of the town still provides an incentive for village incorporation. The 1972 recodification of the Village Law continues the authority of the board of trustees to regulate land use, lot sizes and density of development. With certain exceptions, villages which adopt their first zoning law must establish a zoning commission to draft regulations and establish zone boundaries. They must also establish a zoning board of appeals to hear appeals from decisions made by the village official who enforces zoning regulations. A more detailed discussion of zoning and other aspects of land use regulation appears in [land_use_planning_and_regulation#land_use_planning_and_regulation]. It should be noted that the proliferation of villages in Nassau County resulted in a charter provision that grants zoning authority to towns within any territory incorporated as a village on or after January 1, 1963. There have, however, been no villages incorporated on or since that date.

Fiscal relations continue to be a source of contention between towns and villages. Village residents are liable for payment of taxes to the town in which their village is located, as well as to the village in which they reside. Before the advent of the automobile, village residents rarely considered this dual taxation unduly burdensome. However, the need for paved town roads and the rapid growth of population in towns near the state’s metropolitan areas has greatly increased expenditures for town highways and highway-related items.

The State Highway Law exempts village residents from paying the costs of repair and improvement of town highways, thus relieving them of a substantial portion of the town highway maintenance expense. Unless exempted by the town board, however, village residents must help bear the costs of town highway equipment and snow removal on town roads. Village residents not exempted from such highway costs may believe they are being taxed for town services they do not receive or use in addition to being taxed for the same services within their village. Villages also regard as inequitable the rent the town may charge for village use of the town highway equipment that the village residents have already helped pay for through taxation.

The question of who should pay for what services has been a source of contention between towns and villages since the 1950s, but it is one which can be resolved through local cooperative action. Towns and their constituent villages often undertake formal and informal cooperative ventures. Many share municipal buildings as well as officials and employees, or engage in cooperative purchasing, auto maintenance and emergency vehicle dispatching. For example, one government may provide library, ambulance, landfill or recreation programs to the other at a negotiated fee. More information on inter-municipal agreements is found in [public_authorities_regional_agencies_and_intergovernmental_cooperation#public_authorities_regional_agencies_and_intergovernmental_cooperation].