The local government system in the United States is highly independent from the center. Each state, municipality, territorial unit is a structure independent of central authority with a high degree of autonomy.
Federalism
The powers of authority are distributed between local, state and national authorities. In 2012, according to the census of authorities once a five-year period, about 90 thousand units of local government were counted in North America. At the same time, the leadership went to the state of Illinois, which counted about seven thousand structures. The state of Hawaii was the poorest on them - here, according to the census, only 21 units were found.
In the system of local government in the United States there are two levels:
- larger territories are called counties (in the state of Louisiana they are called “parishes”, and in Alaska they are called “towns”), municipalities or cities;
- settlements are small districts.
The constitution of each state determines the form of municipalities. Depending on this, names are also given - villages, cities and towns, settlements. The regulatory framework for local government in the United States is also spelled out in each state’s constitution.
State Powers
The current system of local government in the United States is very controversial. It is formed of many levels - local, state and federal, which often conflict with each other.
The main US law - the Constitution - does not contain regulations that directly govern governance in each region. Everything related to local government, its structure and functions are established at the state level.
Features of local government in the United States are that the work of the local municipality is determined by the decision of the relevant state, this procedure forms the complete dependence of local authorities on federal ones. Each state is self-reliant in this area, so 50 different municipal systems operate throughout America. The legal status of each state is based on the Constitution and current legislation, supported by municipal charters, which contain the rules governing the activities of the state.
Financing
The receipt of money in favor of local government and self-government in the United States from the federal authorities is carried out directly in the form of loans and subventions, in other words, specially designated subsidies. Today, all US municipalities are directly linked to the federal center; all local government units implement federal programs.
Funds in favor of municipalities are used to cover the following items of expenditure:
- Socio-economic development of territories with a backlog.
- Funding for low-income families, single mothers and people with disabilities. Social protection programs are in place throughout the country, compensation payments have been established and incentives assigned. In addition, there are certain food standards - product sets, determined by the composition and size of the family. A list of medical services has been determined.
- Thanks to the allocated subventions, opportunities are created for equalizing districts and cities to ensure employment, in the field of personnel training, and the education of citizens.
- Subventional cash flowing into the local budget helps to optimize tax rates and contribute to the distribution of the tax burden.
From the above, it can be concluded that local self-government bodies created at the initiative of citizens in the USA carry out projects and programs of the federal government themselves.
Local Government Functions
Before the war, the scope of local government tasks in the United States was much lower. Today, due to the increase in the number and demands of residents, the population, changes in the social structure and urbanization, which entailed the growth of energy, environmental, transport problems, the range of tasks has expanded. In the early 1980s, a “health course” was taken in terms of the economy, which was accompanied by a reduction in spending in such areas as social, cultural, and spending on other civic needs, especially when it came to the poorest sections of the country's population.
Local government in the United States implements a set of basic services for the population, such as housing and transportation, security and law enforcement, as well as sewage and water supply, garbage and snow. Local authorities approve standards for school curricula. The work of local health authorities or, for example, the police, is paid from the local budget, replenished by the taxes of residents.
How are territories divided in the USA
Today in the United States, there are six types of territorial units with their own management:
- counties;
- borough;
- cities;
- Towns
- villages;
- Townships.
These are traditional species. There are also two non-traditional ones: special and school districts.
Belonging to one or another territorial entity depends on the size of the population, as well as on the level of urbanization of the territories. For comparison: both settlements - the city of Sherill with 3 thousand people and the city of New York with a population of 17 million people have the status of "city" (city).
Types of U.S. Local Government
In general, the local government system in the States is quite flexible. The most important municipal corporations listed above are the key governing bodies mainly in cities, the total population of which reaches 87% of the level of the whole country, and it is here that the highest demand for all services to ensure the livelihoods of people. Along with counties, these structures are the largest among local government units in the United States.
Counties
States are divided into counties, of which in the United States there are more than 3 thousand. In Louisiana, they are called "parish." Counties are mainly used to manage territories that do not belong to the city. This is a kind of local government in the United States, typical mainly for rural areas with a predominance of a large territory and a low population. County residents elect councils and officials in the form of a sheriff who is responsible for public order; a prosecutor, treasurer and others are also elected.
The goals of creating counties:
- assisting states in conducting elections and administering justice;
- providing rural residents with a number of necessary services, for example, construction, maintenance of order.
What characterizes the county? Its main features are as follows:
These territorial units are divided into “Towns” and “Townships”. The first are small towns with surrounding areas adjacent to them, and the “township” is a group of approximately homogeneous villages. US local governments in these structures are the last, “relict” form of popular self-government, and today they remain in only 20 states. Formally, they differ from municipalities in the definition of their borders, independent of the concentration of the population: this may include rural areas with sparsely populated areas, and highly urbanized territories. The Township authorities (they are also called the “Council of Supervisors”) are composed of elected members (they are also delegates), their number reaches 20 people, all of them are county officials and are involved in his affairs. The leadership of the council and these officials oversee the activities of municipal officials, addressing local budget issues and identifying key development programs.
- Meetings of residents, held in small structures, are designed to solve the general issues of the settlement; as a rule, as part of these meetings, an executive committee is also elected. If the structure is larger, meetings of local residents are held in individual villages. The agenda of such a meeting also includes the choice of a constable in charge of public order and a treasurer. If other issues need to be resolved, committees are created in the cities and other territorial-administrative units and councils are elected.
- Board of Commissioners. Three quarters of the states in counties have appointed board of commissioners. The participants in this company do not have the right to membership in executive bodies, and also cannot occupy other positions. The chairman of this company is elected in turn, local issues are resolved collectively, as well as the management of finances.
The main working bodies in counties are councils elected by the population. County administration in most states of the USA is distinguished by the absence of a single executive authority, the local population also chooses a sheriff, prosecutor (attorney), as well as a court clerk and treasurer, coroner, auditor and county clerk. There are also positions of superintendent of schools, registrar and land surveyor of the county, which are also elected by the population.
Functions of Officers
- The sheriff manages the county police and conducts all activities assigned to law enforcement agencies: carries out subpoenas, makes arrests.
- Attorney monitors compliance with the law, investigates crimes, represents the interests of the county in the courts.
- The functions of the coroner are to investigate murder cases.
- The county assessor sets tax rates and monitors tax collection.
- The auditor monitors the proper and targeted spending of the county’s funds, its responsibilities include control and audit functions.
- The head of the financial service is the treasurer.
- The clerk acts as secretary of the county council.
The nature of the impact of the board on administrative staff determines the form of management, there are three of them:
1. The commission form is characterized by the fact that all power is concentrated in the hands of the county council. In this case, there is no top official, the commission is formed of elected persons - authorized representatives, each of whom manages one department of the city government. The disadvantages include lack of control, lack of experience among managers, lack of cooperation, mutual responsibility.
2. The form of "advice - manager" is characterized by a predominance in the western and southern states. The Council appoints a professional official for a certain period - a manager who selects staff for the most important posts in the municipality, and also draws up an activity program and exercises control over it. The Council makes decisions on the most important issues of a strategic nature, sets the level of taxes and approves budget allocations.
3. In 1835, the form "mayor - council" first appeared. The leader performs the same functions as in the previous form, but the elected leader is formally assigned the status of the head of the territory, respectively, his influence and political role is much higher. He has the ability to veto decisions of the county council, is authorized to submit to the council the main directions of county policy, and is allowed to make public statements on behalf of the entire county. Drawing an analogy, if we consider the republican system, we will talk about the form "strong mayor - weak council", if the parliamentary one - "weak mayor - strong council".
In the first case, the mayor has an independent solution to many current issues, in addition, he is vested with the right of a suspensive veto on decisions of the council, while only a qualified majority of the votes of council members can lift this ban.
Municipalities
On a territorial basis, both counties and municipalities are in close connection with each other. This is due to the fact that more than half of the municipalities are included in the counties (39 cities are allocated from counties, the municipalities of which perform the functions characteristic of municipal corporations and counties). The main working body in the municipality is the council, its composition has from 5 to 9 members, in large cities with more than 500 thousand people, it includes about 13 people.
In the course of the history of local self-government in the United States, it has turned out that municipal councils are elected on the basis of the majority system of the relative majority.
The laws of a large number of states prohibit the participation of political parties and associations in the nomination of their candidates in local elections.
This is a consequence of the electoral technologies that existed at the beginning of the 20th century, the outcome of the elections in which was determined by the amount of money, and force pressure was applied by parties, but the opinion of the people was not taken into account.
Whatever and how they choose, the effectiveness of the local government directly depends on the relationship of the chosen ones with the people, on the trust of the population in local government.
Taunas
The highest governing body is the annual meeting of all residents (town rally) with the right to vote. It addresses all the most important issues, elects a council of 3-5 people - an executive body between meetings, appoints a treasurer and a clerk, assessor and constable, other officials who can also be appointed by the council, as well as the chief administrators of the township.
Today, many public administration experts consider Towns and Townships to be an inefficient local government system in the United States that is doomed to disappear.
Cities
Cities that have their own system of self-government are specially distinguished from counties. In the “council-manager” system operating in them, the latter is the head of the administration. It is appointed not by the population, but by the council. The head is an experienced manager, acting as a hired official, in connection with this he has the right to dismiss him. The manager in his hands concentrates all power, while the mayor elected by the population works in the city, whose purpose is to perform representative functions, preside over the council and, in fact, manage nothing.
The separation of powers in the city as such is absent - a single commission concentrated legislative and executive functions in its hands. It consists of 5–7 members, who are elected by city residents for up to 4 years; the necessary legal acts are issued within the framework of the commission, the execution of which is organized by its members. One of the members of the commission is appointed by its chairman, and each member of this formation is the head of the department and the municipality, which essentially no one controls.
Large cities can be formed from several small, located in the neighborhood, as well as from counties, they can contain several autonomous municipalities (they are called metro regions).
Districts by natural division
In the USA there are also several separate counties that are not related to administrative-territorial division, their occurrence is due to natural factors and natural causes. In such formations, the body that created this district (or the population itself) appoints officials to places.
Special Districts
These are special US local governments that are briefly characterized by the fact that, unlike counties, municipalities, and townships, they are created to solve specific problems and issues, such as, for example, security, education, and water supply in a particular area. They are distinguished by a high degree of autonomy and are endowed with the rights of a legal entity. Each special district creates its own governing body of five to seven people, which is either appointed by the state or local authorities, or elected by the population.
