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County Government Progress in New York State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

L. R. Chubb
L. R. Chubb
Affiliation:
Consultant Service, National Municipal League
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Extract

The determined attacks which students of county government in New York State have been making on the barriers which have prevented reorganization are at last attaining some success. At its regular session of 1933, the legislature passed and the governor signed a county home rule act sponsored by Senator Fearon, providing simply that any county outside of New York City might “adopt, pursuant to the provisions of this act, a county charter for the government of such county.” This act, however, did nothing effective to remove the considerable obstacles which the state constitution puts in the way of county reform, and was itself of doubtful constitutionality. It served only to throw a clearer light on the fact, already familiar to students of the subject, that in New York it is the constitution that has been the strongest bulwark of antiquated local government.

Type
Rural Local Government
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 1936 , pp. 90 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1936

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References

1 L. 1934, ch. 846; amended by L. 1935, ch. 951.

2 See New York State Commission for the Revision of the Tax Laws, Report (1932 Leg. Doc. 77), Memorandum Number Three, pp. 52–79; id., Sixth Report (1935 Leg. Doc. 63), pp. 126–131Google Scholar.

3 Established by L. 1934, ch. 689. This law was repealed, however, and a second commission of nine, to be appointed by the mayor, provided for by L. 1934, ch. 867, passed at the extraordinary session. The second commission is still at work.

4 The effective date of the present constitution.

5 Municipal Consultant Service of the National Municipal League, The Government of Nassau County (Mineola, New York, 1934)Google Scholar.

6 Earl J. Bennett (chairman), Alfred Douglas Olena (vice-chairman), James N. Gehrig (secretary), Henry J. A. Collins, Elwood A. Curtis, Joseph S. Hewlett, Oscar R. Houston, Edward S. Keogh, Harold P. Kreutzer, Lawrence E. Kirwin, Ellery Mann, H. Stewart McKnight, William S. Pettit, Henry R. Swartley, Jr., Edwin Vandewater, Howard G. Wilson, and Charles S. Wright.

7 L. 1935, ch. 938.

8 This charter, submitted at the election last November, was defeated by a vote of 41,631 to 27,508 (51,916 blank).

9 The county board in Nassau has but six members. They are elected by the three towns and two cities, but their voting strength is proportional to the population they represent. Cf. L. 1917, ch. 790, sec. 1-a, and L. 1918, ch. 289.

10 Carl H. Pforzheimer (chairman), John M. Morehead (vice-chairman), Mrs. William H. Lough (secretary), Julius Henry Cohen, Samuel T. Hubbard, Jr., Maurice Leon, and John J. Sinnott.

11 County Law, art. 2-A; L. 1935, ch. 948 (S. int. 1208, A. Int. 1542). The Corbett-Kelly bill (S. Int. 1039, A. Int. 1364), similar except that it allowed changes by the county boards with or without an advisory referendum, was vetoed. A more comprehensive bill sponsored by Senator Desmond (S. Int. 56) passed the senate, but died in the assembly rules committee.

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