The Role of the Town in the Village
Published: 6/3/2005
One of the questions I hear most often is, “What is the difference between the town and the village?” The easy answer is, “The town has green trucks and the village has orange ones.” But there are actually a number of subtle yet important distinctions between the two municipalities.
The Town of Pittsford was founded in 1796. The town has an elected Supervisor, four Town Council persons and two Town Justices. The entire electorate of the town, including village residents, votes in the elections for these public offices. The town is 24.13 square miles in total area and has a population of 27,219 residents. The town has 10,090 taxable parcels that have a total taxable assessed value of $2.4 billion.
According to the Local Government Handbook, produced by the NYS Department of State, a village is a general purpose municipal corporation formed voluntarily by its residents to provide themselves with municipal services. When a village is created, it’s area still remains a part of the town it is situated in, and its residents continue to be residents and taxpayers of that town.
The Village of Pittsford was incorporated as a village in 1827, a period influenced by the opening of the Erie Canal. The village has a mayor and four trustees that are elected by the village electorate, which comprises a little more than 1,000 eligible voters.
Some of the statistical differences between the town and village include the following:
|
|
Village |
Town |
Village as a % of total Town |
|
Area (in sq. miles) |
0.75 |
24.13 |
0.3% |
|
Population |
1,418 |
27,219 |
5.2% |
|
Taxable Parcels |
697 |
10,090 |
6.9% |
|
Taxable Assessed Value |
$133 million |
$2.4 billion |
5.5% |
|
Budget |
$1,069,424 |
$12,683,875 |
8.4% |
|
Eligible Voters |
1,006 |
18,966 |
5.3% |
Other Supervisor Columns are available here.