In the Commonwealth of Virginia, there are a bunch of cities, all of which have one hting in common -- they have received a charter from the State, the consitutiton of which gives the legislature the authority to charter or incorporate a city.
There cities are entirely independent of and not a part of counties. Alexandria, in northern Virginia, is an independent city, while Arlington, the area to the north of it and just as urbanized, is organized as a county.
Right in the middle of Fairfax County is the City of Fairfax, which was incorporated back towards the middle of the last century, somewhere around 1972 or perhaps a bit earlier.
Here in Colorado cities are often superimposed upon counties. In fact Aurora, the city in which I reside, has parts in three different counties, Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas. Denver, though, is legally entitled the City and County of Denver.
In the US, in the final analysis, a city is what the individual state says it is.
I was interested in the NY definition about the fire department being part of what a city has to have.
