POLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I Political Parties Interest Groups etc Outline of Current Lecture II The First Active Local Government A County governments III Local Government Expenditures IV County Budget V County Revenue Current Lecture 90 000 Local Governments Counties 3 000 o Remained the same throughout o Historical created when state was created o May increase because of the new state Municipalities 19 000 o Increasing until about 1987 leveled off now o Population increases caused the number of cities to grow Townships 17 000 o Remained stable o Normally in the North East Can t create anymore because they are already congested School Districts 15 000 o Number has drastically fallen o Many have merged because small school districts are inefficient Special Districts 37 000 o Single purpose school districts are a type of special districts o Near airports o Community colleges are special districts o Created by problems or some need that is bigger than a county or city can handle o Property tax is higher in special districts o Increased rapidly from 1952 1990s now increasing at a slower rate o States are trying to spread costs and one way of doing this is having a lot of special districts o Different administrations have different grants Pay lower federal taxes but higher local taxes Increased population increased local government Texas is drawing in a lot of immigrants More municipalities due to this Want to control the growth Local Government Expenditures Huge chunk is education Facilities Administration Hospitals Highways Paying off debts o State of Texas cannot borrow must have a balanced budget but many local governments don t have this rule Welfare health and services Corrections County government Counties are the oldest form of government in America BOARD or Legislative body in Texas Commissioners Court Elected executives Sheriff Constable County Clerk Tax Assessor Treasurer Country Attorney Appointed Executives Individuals and boards Auditor Health officer Coroner Library board o Don t exist in some small counties o Appointed by Commissioners Court Bureaucracy No Civil Service Requirement Country Revenue Property tax 50 o If government is efficient this will be lower Licenses and fees Grants Fines Texas County Revenue Huge chunk comes from local taxes property tax Next largest amount from intergovernmental transfer federal government and state Expenditure Services Second largest is public safety Then interest from loans County Budget Law enforcement 50 Roads and Bridges 10 30 Health and Welfare 10 Cities Managed Environment Historical Development of City Government From the middle ages cities have been granted charters that have established a measure of autonomy for them American states including Texas originally chartered cities under general laws in order to avoid disputes over city politics The inflexibility of the general laws prompted Texas to permit beginning in 1912 home rule for cities with a population over 5 000 Traditionally municipalities were organized into one of three types of governments mayor council commission and council manager and today hybrid forms of government that combine mayor council and council manager are growing in popularity The Mayor Council Form In this form of city government which has two variants known as the weak mayorcouncil form and the strong mayor council form council members are elected atlarge or by districts and the mayor is elected at large o In the weak mayor form other executives such as the city attorney and the city treasurer are also elected o In the strong mayor form the mayor appoints other executives and has more significant budgetary and veto powers o The terms strong and weak in this context refer to the formal powers given the mayor by the city charter and do not address an individual mayor s ability to influence local politics in informal ways o The strong mayor form is most common among the nation s largest cities while in small communities the weak mayor form is more prevalent o Among the largest cities in Texas Houston is the only ones that operate with mayor council government o In order to overcome problems associated with its status as an unreformed or political model some mayor council cities particularly larger ones have an official appointed by the mayor to tend to the internal business of the city while the mayor attends to political matters o Many political scientists prefer this form of city government because it seems most likely to provide the kind of leadership needed to deal with the problems of major urban areas