Chapter Eight

Local Government and Metropolitics

Chapter Outline

I. Introduction

A. There is a large number and variety of local governments; citizens live under several layers of government

A. Local government is a very big deal, is costly and overlapping, and affects everybody

B. Reason for complexity: new governments were created to take on new tasks that existing ones could not or would not

II. The nature of state and local relations

A. With unitary state governments, local government are agents of the state; have only those powers expressly given them by the state

B. How the unitary nature of state-local relations contrasts with the federal nature of nation-state relations

1. State officers participate in local government to a much greater extent than federal officers do in state

politics; especially true of administrative officers

2. Constitutional home rule provides state authorization for local governmental units to conduct their

own affairs

C. The extent of state control over local units varies from state to state and also among the different kinds of local government within each state

III. Counties in the United States

A. Counties vary throughout the U.S.

1. Very active in the South, less active in New England

2. There are large urban counties with broad legislative powers and responsibilities

3. Counties have traditional functions (law enforcement, roads, tax collection, recording legal papers,

welfare) and some new functions (transportation, water and sewer, land-use planning)

B. County government

1. Counties exist to enforce state laws and to serve as administrative units of state governments

2. The typical county has a group of officials who act as the central governing body and are called

“commissioners” or “supervisors”

3. They administer state laws, levy taxes, appropriate money, issue bonds, sign contracts on behalf of

the county, and handle whatever jobs the state laws and constitution assign to them

4. County boards are two types

a. The larger boards are usually composed of township supervisors or other township officials

b.The smaller boards are elected from the county in at-large elections

5. The county board shares its powers with other officials, most commonly the sheriff, the county

prosecutor or district attorney, the county clerk, the coroner, and the auditor—these are generally

elected officials

6. Now, some counties have appointed chief administrative officers or elected county executives

B. County performance

1. Counties vary in size

2. The small area and population of many counties lead to inefficiencies

3. The existence of counties adds to the fragmentation of authority and responsibility among a variety of

elected officials

4. Although counties have often been the forgotten government within the states, this is changing, and their jurisdictional boundaries give them great potential for solving complex problems that are impossible to solve at the city level

III. Towns, cities, suburbs

A. The New England town meeting

B. Suburbs

1. Since the 1940s the areas around the cities have been the fastest-growing places in the United States,

with at least 50 percent of Americans now living in suburban communities

2. Reasons for suburban growth

a. Desire to escape deteriorating cities

b. Resistance to mandatory busing

c. Other factors: house with a lawn, good schools, jobs, commerce

d. Suburbs are tied to the metropolis; problems don’t stop at borders

3. Almost each suburban city has its own government, fire and police departments, school system,

street-cleaning equipment, and building and health codes

C. Rise of “edge cities”

1. Recently Americans cities are being built on the edge of cities in the fashion of Los Angeles, with

multiple urban cores

2. Edge cities are built around freeways, shopping malls, and industrial parks

3. There is not much room for government by the people in many edge city operations; they are

essentially a business

V. The American city today

A. Purposes of municipalities

1. Aristotle: people come to the city for security, stay for the good life

2. To provide government within its boundaries: law and order, streets, water, etc.

3. To carry out state functions

4. Charters are the city’s constitution, outline the structure of government thus shape powers and clout

B. The mayor-council charter

1. The mayor-council charter is the oldest and most popular charter; under this type of charter, the city council is usually a single chamber

2. How council members are chosen is important in determining how power is distributed in a city

a. Large cities that elect members in partisan elections generally choose them by small districts or wards rather than at-large—this arrangement tends to support strong party organizations

b. Nonpartisan at-large elections make party organization difficult

3. The difference between at-large or large-district elections and elections based on small, single-member districts can be significant for racial and ethnic representation on the city council

a. The at-large system tends to produce councils made up of the city’s elite and middle classes

b. The single-member district and ward systems give minorities and the less advantaged a better chance for representation

4. Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been important

a. The U.S. attorney general may prevent certain cities from adopting the at-large system if the effect would be to dilute the voting strength of protected groups

b. The Constitution forbids only practices adopted or maintained with the purposeful intent to

discriminate

C. Strong mayor/weak mayor councils

1. Strong mayor-council form: the mayor is elected directly by the people and given fairly broad appointment powers; there is a trend toward an increase in mayoral authority

2. Weak mayor-council cities: mayors are often elected from among the members of the elected city council rather than directly by the people and has restricted appointive powers; the city council as a whole generally possesses both legislative and executive authority

3. Many think strong mayor form is best for strong leadership and responsive administration

D. The council-manager charter or city-manager plan

1. The council serves as a sort of “board of directors” in the business sense of setting broad policies, while a professional executive would see that these policies were carried out with businesslike efficiency

2. This has become the most popular form of local government in medium-sized cities of more than 10,000 citizens

3. The council is usually elected in nonpartisan primaries and elections, either on a citywide basis or by election districts much larger than the wards in mayor-council cities

4. The council appoints a city manager and supervises the manager’s activities; it makes the laws, approves the budget, and often supervises city government through the manager

5. A mayor is expected to preside over the council and represent the city on ceremonial occasions, but may do much more and are a dominant influence in exercising political power

6. City manager plan has been successful in cities with low diversity and high consensus, but it does weaken political leadership

V. Role of the mayor

A. The main job of the mayor is administrative in the broadest sense of the term

1. Supervise line agencies

2. Have staffs with typical executive officer functions

3. Tends to have same tasks as corporate executives

B. Mayors are involved with the private sector in economic development activities

C. Mayors are expected to revitalize the economy and attract investors as well as collaborate with neighboring cities and counties

D. Some mayors are prominent party leaders and can become state and national political figures

VI. Who influences local policy making?

A. Public involvement

1. Tends to be low; leave the work to others is a common attitude

2. But involvement increases when a policy proposal threatens property values or safety

3. Elected and appointed officials want to be reelected and respected; they are reasonably accountable

B. Interest groups in cities

1. Stakes and prizes are considerable: jobs, tax breaks, contracts, licenses, etc.

2. The most powerful groups in cities are business groups, and unions of city employees are also

important

3. Urban interest groups try to influence city hall by putting out press releases, holding meetings,

writing letters to the mayor and council, and generating all the pressure they can

C. Participation is middle and upper-middle class practice; low income people are often ignored

D. Grassroots self-help movements

1. People come together in their own neighborhoods or form neighborhood cooperatives

2. Rooted in an American past that has been marked by volunteerism and local associations

VII. The central city and its politics

A. A metro area is a big city and its suburbs, often with fragmented power and policies

B. The challenge of growth and economic development

1. Beginning in the early 1980s an anti-growth movement developed in many cities

2. Coalitions began forming to fight unregulated growth

C. Leadership for the central cities

1. One factor is problems caused by concentration of new immigrants and migrants in the central city

2. Another major problem is higher per capita costs in the old central cities resulting from aging public

works, reduced proportions of middle-class homeowners, and increased populations requiring

government services

3. In addition, land, rents, utilities, and taxes are less expensive in the outer suburbs and in some newer

edge cites

4. The economic problem is the lack of politically available tax resources

5. The legal problem is that most of the states have not permitted their cities to get at wealth in any

meaningful way with a local income tax

6. Some cities have imposed commuter taxes to obtain revenue from people who work in the central

cities and make frequent use of city facilities yet live in the suburbs

VIII. Strategies to govern metro regions

A. Annexation

B. Agreements to furnish services

C. Regional coordinating and planning councils

D. City-county consolidations

E. Federated government

IX. The politics of metropolitan reorganization

A. Reform would cause different parties and groups to be hurt with diluted power

B. Some call for national efforts to ensure equity, or call for new “city-states”

C. Cities do have many social problems, but they are also places of innovation and excitement

D. Some cities are thriving; in most cities people are better off than in the past

E. Now there are major problems with drugs, drug-related crime, racism, and AIDS

F. How well cities survive will depend on regional organizations, governmental policies, vision, and leadership