By Rich Calder

A Staten Island pol is making another push to turn New York City into the “four boroughs.”

Republican Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli introduced legislation Thursday to create a task force to study the feasibility of Staten Island seceding from the left-leaning Big Apple and becoming an independent city.

Borelli — who co-sponsored a similar bill in 2019 that died in a committee — told The Post Saturday that he’s hoping for better luck and a “fair shake” with a new mayor and City Council.

He also shot down previous criticism that such a move would be too costly for the so-called “forgotten borough” since it would have to fund its own services now provided by New York City.

“Anyone who can say definitively what it will cost Staten Islanders is dreaming,” Borelli said.  “They can’t predict the type of government we would elect and how much [it] would duplicate services.”

Mayoral spokesman Fabien Levy made it clear Saturday that Adams wants Staten Island to remain in the Big Apple.

“Mayor Adams is a five-borough mayor, not a four-borough mayor, and Staten Island is as much of New York City as any other borough,” Levy said.

Staten Island previously tried to secede from the city nearly 30 years ago, with borough residents overwhelmingly passing a non-binding secession bill in 1993. However, that movement was killed in Albany when then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) refused to vote on the matter without a “home rule message” from the City Council.35What do you think? Post a comment.

Staten Island would need state and city blessing for any secession plan.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.528.0_en.html#goog_1740122848

With about 475,000 residents, Staten Island is the city’s least populated borough, but on its own it would rank among the most populated cities in the country, even exceeding cities like Miami and Sacramento.

https://nypost.com/2022/05/21/joe-borelli-renews-bid-to-pull-staten-island-out-of-nyc/