Local Government on Long Island

Long Island is unique in that it has few towns but six times as many villages and school districts and five times as many fire districts as the rest of New York.

	Nassau	Suffolk	Average - Other Counties
Cities	2	0	1
Towns	3	10	17
Villages	64	31	8
School Districts	56	69	10
Fire Districts	39	93	13
Town Special Districts*	140	200	120

As a result of the high number of villages, much more of Long Island, (especially Nassau County) is under three general purpose local governments than the rest of New York is.

	Nassau	Suffolk	Average - Other Counties
% Town Land Area in Villages	42%	8%	2%
% Town Population in Villages	35%	9%	22%

The average size and population of the villages on Long Island are larger than the rest of New York. Larger sizes and population require a greater level of public services thus increasing the cost of government.

	Nassau	Suffolk	Average - Other Counties
Average Village size (sq. mi.)	1.8	2.6	1.6
Average Village Population	7,023	3,985	2,817

Town special taxing districts are also a major issue on Long Island, which account for more than half of the statewide Town special taxing district tax burden. With 49 commissioner-run Town special taxing districts, Nassau County is where commissioner-run Town special taxing districts primarily exist, and have been found in several Comptroller's reports to have problems including a lack of transparency and financial controls.

	Nassau	Suffolk	Average - Other Counties
# of Town Special Taxing Districts	140	200	120
Special Taxing District Tax Levy	$271.3M	$169.5M	$7.7M
% of Town Property Tax for Special Taxing Districts	65%	30%	25%

Long Island local government costs 26% more per capita than the rest of New York, though it is similar to other downstate counties with a high cost of living.

	Nassau	Suffolk	Average - Other Counties
Total Expenses per Capita	$6,869	$6,434	$5,297
County Expenses per Capita	$2,432	$1,794	$1,574
City Expenses per Capita	$1,747	n/a	$1,669
Town Expenses per Capita	$754	$961	$661
Village Expenses per Capita	$1,342	$1,318	$1,190
School Dist. Expenses per Capita	$3,111	$2,035	$2,549

The property tax burden is also greater on Long Island than the rest of New York, but similar to other downstate counties.

	Nassau	Suffolk	Average - Other Counties
Total Property Tax per Capita	$3,767	$2,999	$1,946
County Property Tax per Capita	$682	$389	$356
City Property Tax per Capita	$698	n/a	$428
Town Property Tax per Capita	$363	$410	$307
Village Property Tax per Capita	$752	$674	$419
School Dist. Property Tax per Capita	$2,383	$2,035	$1,154

A recent study by the Long Island Index compared local government cost and service satisfaction on Long Island with similar counties in Northern Virginia that had 1/26th the number of governmental entities. Though both regions had comparable levels of service satisfaction and cost of living, per capita spending on Long Island was $1,722 higher than Northern Virginia. Some of this was explained by different state requirements and employee costs, but 22% of the cost difference could not be explained by either.


Information Source:
NYS Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness
Long Island Index