NY · constitutions

N.Y. Const. art. VIII, § 4

Limitations on local indebtedness

activein force · 2026-09-25 – presentas-observed

Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, no county, city, town or village described in this section shall be allowed to contract indebtedness for any purpose or in any manner which, including existing indebtedness, shall exceed an amount equal to the following percentages of the average full valuation of taxable real estate of such county, city, town or village:

(a) the county of Nassau, for county purposes, ten per centum;

(b) any county, other than the county of Nassau, for county purposes, seven per centum;

(d) any city, other than the city of New York, having one hundred twenty-five thousand or more inhabitants according to the latest federal census, for city purposes, nine per centum;

(e) any city having less than one hundred twenty-five thousand inhabitants according to the latest federal census, for city purposes, seven per centum;

(f) any town, for town purposes, seven per centum; and (g) any village for village purposes, seven per centum. Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, any indebtedness contracted in excess of the respective limitations prescribed in this section shall be void. The average full valuation of taxable real estate of any such county, city, town or village shall be determined in the manner prescribed in section ten of this article. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to restrict the powers granted to the legislature by other provisions of this constitution to further restrict the powers of any county, city, town or village to contract indebtedness.

History

New. Approved by vote of the people November 6, 1951. Substituted for §4, derived in part from former §10, renumbered and amended by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938; further amended by vote of the people November 7, 2023.

Provenance

Source: dos.ny.gov
Retrieved: 2026-09-25
Edition: 2026-09-25
Content hash: dc353a1f2f39bcd7d9d9b1a12e4d4ab7ca29b2435467371077786af4766e5750

View the official source →

The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.

Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.

Coverage · API docs