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=== 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.
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