The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments effective in 1901, to the charter of the then-recently-amalgamated

City of Greater New York The City of Greater New York was the term used by many politicians and scholars for the expanded City of New York created on January 1, 1898, by consolidating the existing City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Is ...

, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment was composed of eight ''

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

'' members: the

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

, the

New York City Comptroller The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the ...

and the President of the

New York City Board of Aldermen The New York City Board of Aldermen was a body that was the upper house of New York City's Common Council from 1824 to 1875, the lower house of its Municipal Assembly upon consolidation in 1898 until the charter was amended in 1901 to abolish ...

, each of whom had three votes; the borough presidents of Manhattan and Brooklyn, each having two votes; and the borough presidents of the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond (Staten Island), each having one vote. (The 1897 charter effective on amalgamation had had a five-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment.) The La Guardia Reform Charter of 1938 simplified its name and enhanced its powers. In 1957, the Charter was amended to raise the number of votes on the Board to twenty-two. Twelve of these votes were held by the three citywide officials, and the five borough presidents were allotted two votes each. On March 22, 1989, the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

unanimously declared in '' Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris'' that the Board of Estimate was

unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...

on the grounds that

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, the city's most populous

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, had no greater effective representation on the board than

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

, the city's least populous borough, and that this arrangement was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's

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pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision ('' Reynolds v. Sims''). In response to the Supreme Court's decision, the New York City Charter Revision Commission drew up changes to the municipal government, which were approved 55% to 45% in a citywide referendum on election day November 1989. A month later, the changes were approved by the U.S. Department of Justice and they were implemented as planned the following year according to the 1990 City Charter, which abolished the Board of Estimate and assigned most of its responsibilities to an enlarged

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...

References

1898 establishments in New York City 1989 disestablishments in New York (state) Government of New York City {{NYC-stub

See also

References