Aborough in someU.S. states is a unit oflocal government or otheradministrative division below the level of the state. The term is currently used in six states:
InAlaska, the word "borough" is used instead of "county". Like counties, boroughs are administrative divisions of the state.
Each borough in Alaska has aborough seat, which is the administrative center for the borough. TheMunicipality of Anchorage is aconsolidated city-borough, as areSitka,Juneau,Haines,Yakutat, andSkagway.
Nearly half of the state's area is part of the vastUnorganized Borough, which has no borough-level government at all. TheUnited States Census Bureau has divided the Unorganized Borough into tencensus areas for statistical purposes.
In addition to cities,Connecticut also has another type of dependent municipality known as a borough. Boroughs are usually the populated center of atown that decided to incorporate in order to have more responsive local government. When a borough is formed, it is still part of and dependent on its town. There are nine boroughs in Connecticut. One borough,Naugatuck, iscoextensive and consolidated with its town. The other eight boroughs, such asWoodmont, have jurisdiction over only a part of their town. Boroughs in Connecticut are counted as separate municipal governments, but governmental functions performed in other parts of the state by town governments are performed by the parent town of the borough.[1]
InMichigan, the termborough only applied toMackinac Island from February 2, 1817, to March 25, 1847.[2][3] The Borough government was established by William Henry Puthuff after the island was proclaimed to be a U.S. territory in theWar of 1812. The borough government was replaced by avillage government in 1847.
InMinnesota, "borough" was applied to one municipality,Belle Plaine, from 1868 to 1974.[4]
InNew Jersey,boroughs are independent municipalities and are one of five types of municipal government, each operating separately at the equivalent level of the other four types of municipal government available in New Jersey:Township,Town,City, andVillage. Many boroughs were formed out of larger townships, but even in such cases there is no continuing link between the borough and the township. Most boroughs were formed during theBoroughitis phenomenon of the mid-1890s.
New York City is divided into five boroughs:Brooklyn,Manhattan,Queens,the Bronx, andStaten Island. Each of these is coterminous with acounty: Kings County, New York County, Queens County, Bronx County, and Richmond County, respectively. There are no county governments within New York City for legislative or executive purposes. The powers of the boroughs are inferior to the powers of the citywide government, but each borough elects aborough president, who in turn appoints some members of local community boards (seeGovernment of New York City). The boroughs of New York City are generally treated as separate counties for judicial purposes and for some legal filings.
New York City does not have a city-widedistrict attorney's office. Instead, each borough elects a district attorney whose title is named after the respective county:Bronx County District Attorney,Kings County District Attorney,New York County District Attorney,Queens County District Attorney, andRichmond County District Attorney.
Boroughs do not exist in any other part of thestate of New York.
InPennsylvania's state laws that govern classes of municipalities, the term "borough" is used the way other states sometimes use the words "town" or "village." A borough is a self-governing entity that is generally smaller than a city. If an area is not governed by either a borough or city, then the area is governed as a township. Villages or hamlets are unincorporated and have no municipal government, other than the township in which they are found. By tradition, as recognized by publications of the state government, the only incorporated town in Pennsylvania isBloomsburg, Pennsylvania.[5][6][7] In August 2005, there were 961 boroughs in the state.[8]
InVirginia, underCode of Virginia § 15.2-3534,[9] when multiple local governments consolidate to form a consolidated city, the consolidated city may be divided into geographical subdivisions called boroughs, which may be the same as the existing (i) cities, (ii) counties, or (iii) portions of such counties. Those boroughs are not separate local governments. For example,Chesapeake is divided into six boroughs, one corresponding to the former city ofSouth Norfolk and one corresponding to each of the fivemagisterial districts of the formerNorfolk County.[10] InVirginia Beach, the seven boroughs were abolished effective July 1, 1998.[11]
Wisconsin in the 19th century occasionally used the term "borough" for the type ofcivil township normally known as atown.[citation needed]