Editing Politics of the United States (section)

==Local government==
[[File:SF City Hall Election Day 2018.jpg|thumb|On [[Election Day (United States)|Election Day]] on the first Tuesday in November, citizens all around the United States vote for political offices. (Shown is [[San Francisco City Hall]] commemorating the occasion.)]]{{Main|Local government in the United States|Urban politics in the United States}}

The [[United States Census Bureau]] conducts the Census of Governments every five years, categorizing four types of local governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state:<ref name="census2012">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/govs/cog2012/ |title=2012 Census of Governments|publisher=United States Census Bureau|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220034306/https://www.census.gov/govs/cog2012/|archive-date=December 20, 2012}}</ref>

# [[County (United States)|County]] governments
# [[Town]] or [[township]] governments
# [[Municipality|Municipal]] governments
# Special-purpose local governments, including both school districts and other special districts

In 2010, there were 89,500 total local governments, including 3,033 counties, 19,492 municipalities, 16,500 townships, 13,000 school districts, and 37,000 other special districts.<ref>''Statistical Abstract: 2010'' p. 416.</ref> Local governments directly serve the needs of the people, providing everything from police and fire protection to sanitary codes, health regulations, education, public transportation, and housing. Typically local elections are nonpartisan — local activists suspend their party affiliations when campaigning and governing.<ref>Ann O'M. Bowman and Richard C. Kearney, ''State and Local Government: The Essentials'' (2008) p. 78</ref>

===County government===
{{Main|County (United States)}}

The [[county (United States)|county]] is the administrative subdivision of the state, authorized by state constitutions and statutes. The county equivalents in Louisiana are called [[parish (subnational entity)|parish]]es, while those in Alaska are called [[Borough (United States)|boroughs]].

The specific governmental powers of counties vary widely between the states. In some states, mainly in [[New England]], they are primarily used as judicial districts. In other states, counties have broad powers in housing, education, transportation and recreation. County government has been eliminated throughout [[Connecticut]], [[Rhode Island]], and in parts of [[Massachusetts]]; while the [[Unorganized Borough]] area of [[Alaska]] (which makes up about a half of the area of the state) does not operate under a county-level government at all. In areas that do not have any county governmental function and are simply a division of land, services are provided either by lower level townships or municipalities, or the state.

Counties may contain a number of [[city|cities]], towns, villages, or [[hamlet (place)|hamlets]]. Some cities—including [[Philadelphia]], [[Honolulu]], [[San Francisco]], [[Nashville]], and [[Denver]]—are [[consolidated city-counties]], where the municipality and the county have been merged into a unified, coterminous [[jurisdiction]]—that is to say, these counties consist in their entirety of a single municipality whose city government also operates as the county government. Some counties, such as [[Arlington County, Virginia]], do not have any additional subdivisions. Some states contain [[independent city (United States)|independent cities]] that are not part of any county; although it may still function as if it was a consolidated city-county, an independent city was legally separated from any county. Some [[List of U.S. municipalities in multiple counties|municipalities are in multiple counties]]; [[New York City]] is uniquely partitioned into five [[Boroughs of New York City|boroughs]] that are each coterminous with a county.

In most U.S. counties, one town or city is designated as the [[county seat]], and this is where the county government offices are located and where the board of commissioners or supervisors meets. In small counties, boards are chosen by the county; in the larger ones, supervisors represent separate districts or townships. The board collects taxes for state and local governments; borrows and appropriates money; fixes the salaries of county employees; supervises elections; builds and maintains highways and bridges; and administers national, state, and county welfare programs. In very small counties, the executive and legislative power may lie entirely with a [[sole commissioner]], who is assisted by boards to supervise taxes and elections.

===Town or township governments===
{{Main|Civil township}}

Town or township governments are organized local governments authorized in the state constitutions and statutes of 20 Northeastern and Midwestern states,<ref name="census2012" /> established as [[minor civil division]]s to provide general government for a geographic subdivision of a county where there is no municipality.
In New York, Wisconsin and New England, these county subdivisions are called ''towns''.

In many other states, the term ''town'' does not have any specific meaning; it is simply an informal term applied to populated places (both incorporated and unincorporated municipalities). Moreover, in some states, the term town is equivalent to how civil townships are used in other states.

Like counties, the specific responsibilities to townships vary based on each state. Many states grant townships some governmental powers, making them [[civil township]]s, either independently or as a part of the county government. In others, [[survey township]]s are non-governmental. [[New England town|Towns in the six New England states]] and townships in [[New Jersey]] and [[Pennsylvania]] are included in this category by the Census Bureau, despite the fact that they are legally [[municipal corporation]]s, since their structure has no necessary relation to concentration of population,<ref name="census2012" /> which is typical of municipalities elsewhere in the United States. In particular, towns in New England have considerably more power than most townships elsewhere and often function as legally equivalent to cities, typically exercising the full range of powers that are divided between counties, townships, and cities in other states.<ref>Osborne M. Reynolds, Jr., ''Local Government Law'', 3rd ed. (St. Paul: West, 2009), 30.</ref>

Township functions are generally overseen by a governing board, whose name also varies from state to state.

=== Municipal governments ===
{{Main|Municipality|City|Town#United States|Village (United States)|Borough (United States)|Plantation (Maine)}}

Municipal governments are organized local governments authorized in state constitutions and statutes, established to provide general government for a defined area, generally corresponding to a population center rather than one of a set of areas into which a county is divided. The category includes those governments designated as cities, boroughs (except in [[Alaska]]), towns (except in Minnesota and Wisconsin), and villages.<ref>Reynolds, 24.</ref> This concept corresponds roughly to the "[[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] places" that are recognized in by the U.S. Census Bureau, although the Census Bureau excludes [[New England town]]s from their statistics for this category, and the count of municipal governments excludes places that are governmentally inactive.

About 28 percent of Americans live in cities of 100,000 or more population.{{when|date=September 2022}}  Types of city governments vary widely across the nation. Almost all have a central council, elected by the voters, and an executive officer, assisted by various department heads, to manage the city's affairs. Cities in the West and South usually have nonpartisan local politics.

There are three general types of municipal government: the [[Mayor-council government|mayor-council]], the commission, and the [[Council-manager government|council-manager]]. These are the pure forms; many cities have developed a combination of two or three of them.

==== [[Mayor–council government|Mayor-council]] ====
{{main|Mayor–council government}}
[[File:Boston City Hall exterior 02.jpg|thumb|The seat of the [[mayor of Boston]] is [[Boston City Hall]]. Boston has a [[mayor–council government]].]]

This is the oldest form of city government in the United States and, until the beginning of the 20th century, was used by nearly all American cities. Its structure is like that of the state and national governments, with an elected mayor as chief of the executive branch and an elected council that represents the various neighborhoods forming the legislative branch. The mayor appoints heads of city departments and other officials (sometimes with the approval of the [[council]]), has the power to [[veto]] over [[Local ordinance|ordinances]] (the laws of the city), and often is responsible for preparing the city's budget. The council passes city ordinances, sets the tax rate on property, and apportions money among the various city departments. As cities have grown, council seats have usually come to represent more than a single neighborhood.

==== Commission ====
This combines both the legislative and executive functions in one group of officials, usually three or more in number, elected city-wide. Each commissioner supervises the work of one or more city departments. Commissioners also set policies and rules by which the city is operated. One is named chairperson of the body and is often called the mayor, although their power is equivalent to that of the other commissioners.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mayor and City Commission |website=Talgov.com |url=http://www.talgov.com/commission |access-date=2011-09-26 |archive-date=2011-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903141503/http://www.talgov.com/commission/ }}</ref>

==== Council-manager ====
The [[city manager]] is a response to the increasing complexity of urban problems that need management ability not often possessed by elected public officials. The answer has been to entrust most of the [[Executive (government)|executive]] powers, including law enforcement and provision of services, to a highly trained and experienced professional city manager.

The [[council-manager]] plan has been adopted by a large number of cities. Under this plan, a small, elected council makes the city ordinances and sets policy, but hires a paid administrator, also called a city manager, to carry out its decisions. The manager draws up the city budget and supervises most of the departments. Usually, there is no set term; the manager serves as long as the council is satisfied with their work.

=== Unincorporated areas ===
Some states contain [[unincorporated area]]s, which are areas of land not governed by any local authorities below that at the county level. Residents of unincorporated areas only need to pay taxes to the county, state and federal governments as opposed to the municipal government as well. A notable example of this is [[Paradise, Nevada]], an unincorporated area where many of the casinos commonly associated with [[Las Vegas]] are situated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Paradise|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Paradise,+NV,+USA/@36.0609236,-115.2037751,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c8c57a76423ced:0x98534c935aac7b95!8m2!3d36.0971945!4d-115.1466648|access-date=2020-07-27|website=Paradise|language=en}}</ref>

=== Special-purpose local governments ===
{{Main|Special district (United States)|School district}}

In addition to general-purpose government entities legislating at the state, county, and city level, special-purpose areas may exist as well, provide one or more specific services that are not being supplied by other existing governments.<ref>{{cite report |last=U.S. Census Bureau |title=2002 Census of Governments, Vol 1, Number 1, Government Organization, GC02(1)-1 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |date=2002 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=vii–viii |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/gc021x1.pdf |access-date=July 5, 2017}}</ref> School districts are organized local entities providing public [[Primary school|elementary]] and [[Secondary school|secondary]] education which, under state law, have sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate governments.

Special districts are authorized by state law to provide designated functions as established in the district's charter or other founding document, and with sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate governments;<ref>Reynolds, 31.</ref> known by a variety of titles, including districts, authorities, boards, commissions, etc., as specified in the enabling [[State legislature (United States)|state legislation]].