The Historic and Contemporary Role of New York State Counties By Mark LaVigne NYSAC Deputy Director
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county is a geographically-based subdivision of local government, but it is also much more than that. Counties in New York are major service providers and administrators: they administer and/or fund most of the services that the average citizen regularly makes use of and also collect a large portion of an individual’s taxes. Counties therefore play a key role in the interaction between the government and the governed. But in order to put county function and design of government in the proper context, a probe in to the history of county government is required.
The Origin of New York’s Counties At a historic “General Assembly of the Freeholders” in 1693, the first counties in New York saw the light of day through the Charter for Liberties and Principles adopted by the colonial government. The initial purpose of counties was to increase the efficiency of service delivery at the local level. The charter divided New York into 12 counties, and the county became the source of representation in the Colonial Assembly as well as the basis for the system of courts. The charter also directed the towns of the counties to elect a town supervisor. The initial task of a supervisor was to hold the
office of town treasurer. The supervisors of all the towns in a county would later form the base for the board of supervisors, the counties’ legislative bodies. Some counties’ legislative bodies are still based on this system today and retain board of supervisors name. In 1777, a year after independence from England, the first State Constitution was ratified. The Constitution designated counties, towns, and cities as the only units of local government in the state. An additional constitutional provision continued the practice established by the English of locally-elected supervisors, reinforcing the democratic legitimacy and strengthening the autonomy of local government.
The Evolving County Role In 1778 the State legislature further enhanced county autonomy by giving them the power to finance their “public and necessary charges”. Previously, the state had sole responsibility for the provision of services while the purpose of the county was to serve as the administrative branch. Through these changes by the State legislature, counties were given sole responsibility for: police, fire safety, public health and welfare, jails and court services, thereby changing their role from administrator to provider. These changes opened the
Kings Charter
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