What is the process required to create an incorporated village?
"Villages are created by citizen initiative without any discretionary interference or approval from other
governing bodies at the state or local levels. There is no authority for anyone but local residents to decide
the question of whether to incorporate. That said, the people who want to live in a village vote to create the
village. And if the village residents decide they want to dissolve, they have the power to collect signatures
on a petition and cause a referendum to be held on whether to dissolve the village," according to NYCOM.
To create the village, there are four steps:
- BOUNDARIES: The procedure begins with the establishment of clearly defined boundaries; these boundaries must meet the requirements set forth by the State of New York. To be incorporated as a village, a territory must have at least 500 inhabitants and be no more than 5 square miles in area. Once the boundaries are established and filed with the town, the next step in the process is the census.
- CENSUS: This entails counting every inhabitant who lives within the boundaries of the village. This census will give the committee an accurate population count from which the committee can take the next required step, circulating a petition
- PETITION: A petition is circulated to collect signatures of the registered voters within the village boundaries. Persons signing the petition are agreeing they would like a referendum (a vote to be taken) on whether or not to proceed with the incorporation of Mastic Beach as a Village. The goal is to have at least 20% of the registered voters in the proposed village sign the petition. Once done, it can be presented to the Town Supervisor. The Supervisor will then call for a vote.
- VOTE: The town will authorize the "referendum" to be put on a ballot for a vote of the registered voters within
the boundaries of the village. The referendum will have just one question:
- ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF THE CREATION OF THE INCORPORATED VILLAGE OF MASTIC BEACH? YES or NO.
If the YES votes total one vote more that 50% of the total votes, the village of Mastic Beach is born.