What is a county?

What is a city?

… a town? … a village? … a special district?

A county is part of a state, known as a “political subdivision.” A county has its own government to provide services at the local level…

Some services typically provided by a county include  Law Enforcement  EMS (Ambulance)  Water & sewer  Trash & recycling  Parks & recreation  Animal control

Florida has 67 counties

These are the “panhandle” counties

Some facts about counties:  There are more than 3,000 counties in the USA  Texas has the most: 254  Delaware has the fewest: 3  Lousiana calls its counties “Parishes”  Alaska calls its counties “Burroughs”

Some more facts about counties:  In Rhode Island & Connecticut, the counties exist, but they have no local government.  In the other 48 states, counties have their own local government led by elected officials, usually called “commissioners” or “supervisors.”

County offices & commission meeting rooms are usually in the county courthouse

The city where the courthouse is located is called the “County Seat”

Panhandle county seats: Escambia – Pensacola Santa Rosa – Milton Okaloosa – Crestview Walton – DeFuniak Springs Holmes – Bonifay Washington – Chipley Bay – Panama City Jackson- Marianna Calhoun – Blountstown Gulf – Port St Joe Franklin –Apalchicola Gadsden – Quincy Liberty – Bristol Leon – Tallahassee Wakulla – Crawfordville Jefferson - Monticello

Cities…. These words are all somewhat synomymous:  Incorporated Place  Municipality  City  Town  Village

In most states, including Florida, every square inch of the state is in one of the counties.

The number of Incorporated places varies greatly from county to county.  Leon County has one city (Tallahassee)  Santa Rosa County has three (Milton, Jay, Gulf Breeze)  Okaloosa County has nine (Crestview, FWB, Destin, Shalimar, Cinco Bayou, Niceville, Valparaiso, Mary Esther, Laurel Hill)  Some counties have many more.

What do cities do? They provide many of the same services counties do, but usually on a higher level There are some differences, though: In Florida, counties provide EMS, but cities usually don’t. Cities have Police Departments; counties have Sheriff’s Offices. Most cities have fire departments; counties usually don’t.

Cities are MUCH smaller than counties in geographic area. For example:  Santa Rosa County = 1,100 square miles  Gulf Breeze = 5 square miles  Milton = 4.5 square miles  Jay = 1.5 square miles Total city area in Santa Rosa County = about 11 square miles

Lots of places where people live are not in any city… In fact, 99% of the land area of Santa Rosa County and 90+% of the population are NOT inside the city limits of any incorporated place (City, Town, Village)

City, Town, Village… what’s the difference? Not much. In Florida, there is no legal difference at all. A municipality can call itself a city (most do), a town (quite a few do), or a village (very few do).

City, Town, Village… what’s the difference? In some states, there are differences, with a city having more power to conduct its affairs than a town, and a village having limited power.

City, Town, Village… what’s the difference? Generally, a city is larger… a town is smaller… And a village smaller still.

Q-If you don’t live in a city, town, or village, where do you live ?

A- If you don’t live in a city, town, or village, you live in an “Unincorporated area.” Example: Navarre is part of unincorporated Santa Rosa County.

Specialized local governments

May be a whole county, part of a county, several counties or parts of several counties, or just part of a city, depending on the special purpose served.

Example… Washington, DC, plus the suburbs in Virginia and Maryland are served by a Metro (subway) system that is operated by a special local government district.

The most common Special District is a School District. Florida has 67 school districts – one for each county. School board members and County Commissioners are separate jobs, and are elected seperately from each other

Another common Special District is a Fire District. A fire district is normally part of a county. Fire Commissioners are elceted to operate a fire department for that area; they may have the power to tax homes and businesses to support the fire department.