Chapter 8 Notes Number of Local Governments 90 000 Local Governments School districts have fallen in number even though the population has increases Special Districts have increased since the 50s o Special districts are created by the state and include certain hospitals Blinn college TCC ect o Special districts are formed because multiple suburban municipalities join to provide water services flood relief ect making it easier to deal with certain problems financially Machine Reform Reform from ward heelers Introduced secret ballot Short ballot as mayors began to appoint people instead of people voting for many people at once At large elections were introduced where everyone could vote o Southern political leaders later used this to keep blacks from being in power Local Government Money Most money comes from sales tax Biggest spending for education Public safety is another big chunk of spending County Government Texas Commissioners Court is not a court of law It is a board legislative body where you can get things locally prison clerks ect o Follows all the rules given to them by the state Elected Executives o Sheriffs constables clerks tax assessors county attorney o When the population is high you have appointed executives o Board members appointed by someone Texas has 2 elections one elected at large everyone living in the county can vote or precinct you have to live in a smaller area to vote o Justice of Peace and Constable are elected by precinct o Road Crews repair roads build bridges ect Some counties are so small and yet you have 4 road crews Inefficient because you have too many groups with too many materials Each commissioner is in charge of a road crew Supreme court now says that we have to divide districts by people instead of cows mileage ect but we continue to have 4 road crews with the exception of 10 of our counties where they are trying to reduce costs County Revenue Licenses and fees More than 50 comes from property tax Grants Fines County Budget Law Enforcement 50 Roads and Bridges 10 30 Something Cities Managed Environments County government is further removed than local city government City government is closer to you because you get electricity from them roads Cities started in the Middle Ages when people began to live close together because of bandits and protection Two types of cities in Texas o General law cities All laws are already created o Home ruled cities Create own laws ordinances 1912 you can make yourself into a home ruled city if you have a population of over 5 000 Mayor council commission and council manager with many hybrid forms Municipal Government Types Mayor Council 41 Council Manager 50 Commission 3 Town Meeting 6 Mayor Council Two types of mayor council strong mayor and weak o Difference is institutional Strong mayor can have power to appoint People vote for council or wards mayors and other elected officials like and to remove controller treasurer of city o Strong mayor council will appoint chief of police chief of fire the mayor will appoint these Strong mayor is dominant in largest cities Houston is strong LA is not o Houston has reformed their government by adding the position of manager They have a mayor council manager Manager is like the CEO runs the day to day operations Council Manager Form Dallas and San Antonio We the people elect counselors Counselors will hire the city manager then city manager appoints others o City manager does the business operations o Issue is when the city is more than 250 000 it doesn t really work People will get angry and try to get rid of city manager because he becomes a scapegoat Commission Historicaly in Galveston o Originated after the hurricane of 1900 Commission Voters vote for commissioners and each commissioner is in charge of a department o Rotate every few months to be chief policy maker o Not very effective because if you keep rotating a new head will change the vision Town Meeting Make decisions collectively Typically in northern states Whenever you want to make a change have a town hall meeting What form is preferable Larger cities work with mayor manager form Smaller cities use mayor council form Council manager works in middle sized cities City Services Police Fire Streets Sewage City Revenue Highest revenue is utilities Blue is taxes on the chart 1 sales tax Intergovernmental o Grants from Federal or state government o Street lights traffic lights costly for the city City Expenditures Utilities Parks Transportation Public Safety Median Family Income and City Taxes Positive City Taxes will be high if your median income is high Why is turnout so low in municipal elections Larger cities will annex smaller ones to collect tax money since they often use the same services Provide education Voters vote for the school board members Then the school board members will higher the superintendent CEO of the school district School Districts Special Districts Single functioning entities Blinn College higher education is their purpose If you live in the special district you pay for the cost of the special district Why Special Districts African Americans Things like flood control can rarely be solves within a single city or county Easy to organize and operate Higher of African American population is positively correlated with of American Americans on City Councils
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