borough president

The borough president is an elected office in each of the five Boroughs of New York City. For most of the city's history, the office exercised significant executive powers within each borough, and the five borough presidents also sat on the New York City Board of Estimate. Since 1990, the borough presidents have been stripped of a majority of their powers in the government of New York City. Borough presidents advise the mayor of New York City, comment on land-use items in their borough, advocate borough needs in the annual municipal budget process, appoint some officials and community board members, and serve ex officio as members of various boards and committees. They generally act as advocates for their boroughs to mayoral agencies, the city council, the New York State government, public corporations, and private businesses. Their authorizing law is codified in title 4, sections 81 to 85 of the New York City Charter, while their regulations are compiled in title 45 of the New York City Rules. History On January 1, 1898, the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond were created and consolidated into a unified city of New York. As part of the consolidation, all town and county governments within the city were dissolved, and their powers were given to the city and the boroughs. Manhattan and the Bronx comprised New York County, Brooklyn was the same as Kings County, the borough of Queens was the western third of Queens County, and the borough of Richmond was the same as Richmond County. The boroughs assumed most county functions, but did not replace them. The five offices of borough president were created to administer many of the previous responsibilities of the mayors of Brooklyn and Long Island City, the executive branch functions of the towns in Queens and Richmond, and various county functions.