Newburgh has seven elected officials, a mayor and six city council members, four elected by ward to four-year terms, staggered so that the mayor and two at-large councilmembers are up for re-election one year and four others, by ward, two years later. It was anticipated that in November 2007, Newburgh voters would decide on whether to split Newburgh into eight wards and elect one councilmember from each ward. The Newburgh City Council voted to disallow this referendum from appearing on the ballot pending further public input.