Politics in States and Communities (15 Ed.) Thomas Dye and Susan MacManus

Governing America’s Communities Chapter 10 Governing America’s Communities © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives Explain the challenges local governments face because of their diversity in population size, square miles, and socioeconomic composition. Analyze the structure and functions of the system comprised of 89,000 local governments. Describe the diversity of county governments. Compare and contrast county commission, county administrator, and county executive governmental structures. Describe the duties of county officials, and discuss how home rule charters, townships, and New England towns are organized. Examine the mayor-council and council-manager forms of city government; outline the commission, town meeting, and representative town meeting forms of city government; and describe which forms of city government are most prevalent. Evaluate how successfully nonpartisan elections have taken the “politics” out of local government and raised the caliber of candidates for elected office. Compare at-large and district electoral systems, and how the electoral system affects which candidates are most likely to be victorious. Describe special-purpose local governments known as special districts, and list the various purposes for which these districts were created. © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Local Government Creating a “sense of community”: Friends and neighbors interact, voluntarism is high, and government and citizens communicate Providing services and managing conflict: The two principal functions of community political systems Sources of community conflict: Human diversity the source of all political conflict Coping with dissatisfaction: Can do nothing, move away, or try to change things © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Local Governments in the United States © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Government Favorability by Level: Local Government Rated Highest © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Eighty-Nine Thousand Governments Why Should You Care about the Structure of Local Government? What Should Citizens Focus on at the Local Level? Local Government Functions Differ by State: Counties: Rural or Urban Cities Towns and Townships: Midwestern Townships and New England Towns School Districts © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

County Governments: Rural and Urban All states, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, have organized county governments that perform administrative duties Counties are called “parishes” in Louisiana and “boroughs” in Alaska Total 3,031 counties in the United States © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Structure of County Government County governments differ markedly in their organization: A governing body Separately elected officials A large number of special boards or commissions An appointed county bureaucracy © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Structure of County Government Traditional county commission structure: In one-third of counties County administrator structure: Elected commission appoints administrator/manager Elected county executive/county mayor structure: Voters elect chief executive officer separately from county commission County officials: Include commissioners, sheriff, coroner, district attorney, clerk, tax assessor, etc. Home rule charter counties: Can exercise all powers not specifically prohibited by law or charter Townships: Mostly in unincorporated areas The New England town: Town meeting or representative town meeting © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

General-Purpose Local Governments

Special-Purpose Local Governments

Structures of County Government

Forms of County Government © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cities as “Municipal Corporations” Dillon’s Rule: Courts interpret powers granted in charters very narrowly Types of Municipal Charters: Special Act Charters General Act Charters Optional Charters Home Rule Courts restrict local powers: Result is to greatly strengthen courts, attorneys, and defenders of the status quo © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Forms of City Government Commission: Gives legislative and executive power to a small body, usually of five members Council-manager: Elected council or commission appoints manager Elected mayor (hybrid mayor-manager form of government): About two-thirds of council-manager communities elect a mayor Mayor-council: May be “strong” or “weak” Town meeting and representative town meeting: Currently only in five New England states Changing city charters: The trend toward hybrid forms: Many options, but getting voters to support structural changes is difficult © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Forms of City Government

American Cities: Forms of Government © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nonpartisan Elections Nonpartisan elections are elections in which the candidates’ names appear on a ballot without indication of their party affiliation. Incumbent advantage: Incumbents council members are elected at very high rates in nonpartisan elections © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Voters Don’t Always Approve Structural Changes © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Local Election Systems Types of at-large systems: Pure, by position, from residency district Single-member district systems: Candidates are chosen by voters in separate geographically defined districts Combination election systems: Some officials are elected at large; others from single-member districts Civil rights tests: Must pass results as well as intent test Federal court intervention: Getting harder for cities to defend exclusive reliance on at-large elections Minority representation: Recent gains, close to parity © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparing Single-Member District and Mixed (Combination) Election Systems © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparing Single-Member District and Mixed (Combination) Election Systems © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Special-Purpose Local Governments School districts: Local school districts have an elected school board and an appointed superintendent in most areas Special districts: More than 37,000 nationwide, but special districts are less well known to most voters and there is little accountability to the public © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Some School Boards Pay School Superintendents More than the Governor Makes

www.naco.org National Association of Counties On the Web www.naco.org National Association of Counties www.nlc.org National League of Cities © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.