Politics & Government Reviewed July 2026
What a borough president actually controls
Five of them, one per borough: every community board seat in their gift, a formal opinion in every land-use fight, a planning office, and the borough's loudest microphone. What the Charter actually hands the job.
The numbers that matter
- Elected
- By the borough's voters, on the mayor's cycle; must live in the borough for the whole term (NYC Charter § 81, 2021 edition, read July 2026)
- Appoints
- Every community board member in the borough (up to 50 seats per board, at least half from council members' nominations), plus one City Planning Commission member (NYC Charter §§ 2800(a), 192(a), 2021 edition, read July 2026)
- In ULURP
- Thirty days to file a written recommendation after the community boards act (NYC Charter § 197-c(g), 2021 edition, read July 2026)
- The one hard trigger
- Opposing a new city facility and proposing an alternative site in the borough raises the Planning Commission's approval bar from seven votes to nine (NYC Charter § 197-c(h), 2021 edition, read July 2026)
The borough's elected megaphone
Every borough elects a president, on the same four-year cycle as the mayor. The office once held real command, back when borough presidents cast votes on the old Board of Estimate; today's Charter hands it appointments, deadlines, and standing instead. Start with the residency rule, which is stricter than the mayor's:
There shall be a president of each borough, who shall be a resident thereof at the time of election and remain a resident thereof throughout the term of office. ... The borough president shall be elected by the electors of the borough at the same time and for the same term as in this charter prescribed for the mayor.
A borough-wide mandate is nothing small: Brooklyn's electorate alone is bigger than most American cities'. The question is what the mandate commands, so here is the honest inventory.
The appointment power: every community board seat
The most concrete lever in the job: the borough president picks the people on all of the borough's community boards, the bodies that hold the first public hearing on every rezoning, liquor license, and budget priority in the neighborhood. The city's own guide for board members:
Each of the 59 Community Boards has 50 unsalaried members appointed by Borough Presidents in consultation with the Council Members of the district.
The Charter requires at least half of each board's appointees to come from council members' nominations, but the pen is Borough Hall's. Whoever holds it shapes every land-use hearing room in the borough for years.
The second appointment reaches into the room where rezonings are actually decided:
There shall be a city planning commission to consist of the chair and twelve other members. The mayor shall appoint the chair and six other members of the commission, the public advocate shall appoint one member, and each borough president shall appoint one member.
One commissioner per borough president, five of thirteen between them. The mayor's seven appointees still outnumber everyone, which tells you how the votes usually land.
The ULURP seat, and its one real trigger
In the land-use review gauntlet, the borough president is the formal step between the community board's advice and the City Planning Commission's vote:
Not later than thirty days after the filing of a recommendation or waiver with the borough president by all affected community boards, or, if any affected community board shall fail to act, thirty days after the expiration of the time allowed for such community board to act, the borough president shall submit a written recommendation or waiver thereof to the city planning commission.
Advisory, like the community board below it. With one exception, and it has teeth:
the affirmative vote of nine members shall be required to approve or approve with modifications an application pursuant to paragraph five, ten or eleven of subdivision a of this section relating to a new city facility if the affected borough president recommends against approval of such application pursuant to subdivision g of this section and has proposed an alternative location in the same borough for such new city facility
Oppose a new city facility, a shelter or a garage, AND name a workable alternative site in the borough, and the Planning Commission suddenly needs nine of its thirteen votes instead of the usual seven. A veto-shaped speed bump, and the strongest formal power on this page.
Budget proposals, bills by proxy, and the borough's plan
The rest of the Charter's list is influence with infrastructure attached: a budget office to propose and analyze appropriations alongside the city budget process, a planning office, hearings, and two channels into lawmaking and long-term policy:
Have power to have legislation introduced in the council; such proposed legislation shall indicate that it was introduced at the behest of the borough president. ... prepare a strategic policy statement for the borough and provide copies of such statement to the mayor, council and community boards in the borough. Such statement shall include: (i) a summary of the most significant long-term issues faced by the borough; (ii) policy goals related to such issues; and (iii) proposed strategies for meeting such goals.
Bills by proxy (a council member still has to carry the vote), and a strategic policy statement every four years. The borough board, which the borough president chairs with the borough's council members and board chairs, adds public hearings and reports on borough capital projects.
What it does not control
A borough president cannot veto a rezoning (the nine-vote trigger aside), run a police precinct, set school policy, or move an agency's budget line. The office holds appointments, deadlines, a planning shop, and the borough's biggest microphone; the binding votes belong to the bodies mapped in who actually runs New York City.
The questions New Yorkers actually ask
What real power does a borough president have?
Appointing every community board member in the borough and one City Planning Commission member, a formal thirty-day recommendation in every ULURP land-use review, budget proposals and consultation on the executive budget, hearings, and the power to have bills introduced in the Council. The one hard trigger: opposing a new city facility with an alternative site raises the Planning Commission's approval bar to nine votes.
Do borough presidents control the police, schools, or agencies in their borough?
No. City agencies answer to the mayor, and the binding land-use and budget votes belong to the City Planning Commission and the City Council. The borough president's power runs through appointments, formal recommendations, and public pressure.
Who appoints community board members in NYC?
The borough president appoints all of them, up to 50 per board across the borough's community boards, with at least half chosen from nominations by the district's council members. Applications go through Borough Hall.
What is a borough board?
A Charter body in each borough, chaired by the borough president and made up of the borough's council members and the chair of each community board. It holds public hearings and reports to the Council, the mayor, and the City Planning Commission on borough programs and proposed capital projects.
The documents
The public records this page draws on. Read them yourself:
Now watch the machinery move.
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