gobierno local en Estados Unidos

Local government in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Local government in the United States is generally structured in accordance with the laws of the various individual states. Typically each state has at least two separate tiers: counties and municipalities. Some states have their counties divided into townships. In turn there are several different types of municipal government, generally reflecting the needs of different levels of population densities; although the types and nature of these municipal entities varies from state to state, typical examples include the city, town, borough, and village. Many rural areas and even some suburban areas of many states have no municipal government below the county level. In a few states, there is only one level of local government: Hawaii has no legal municipalities below the county level; while Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island's counties serve no legal function—these being filled by city and town governments.

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In addition to the above, there are also often local or regional special districts that exist for specific purposes, such as to provide fire protection, sewerservice, transit service or to manage water resources. In many states, school districts manage the schools. Such special purpose districts often encompass areas in multiple municipalities.

Finally, in some places the different tiers are merged together, for example as a consolidated city-county.

Contents  [hide] 1 Types of local government 1.1 County governments 1.2 Subcounty general purpose governments 1.2.1 Municipal governments 1.2.2 Township governments 1.2.2.1 New England towns 1.3 School districts 1.4 Special districts 2 Councils or associations of governments 3 Dillon's Rule 4 Institutions 5 Indian reservations 6 Census of local government 7 Examples of local government in individual states 7.1 Alaska 7.2 California 7.3 District of Columbia 7.4 Georgia 7.5 Hawaii 7.6 Louisiana 7.7 New York 7.8 Pennsylvania 7.9 Texas 7.10 Virginia 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Though cities differ in the division of responsibility, the typical arrangement is to have the following departments handle the following roles:

1. Urban planning/zoning
2. Economic development/tourism
3. Public works - construction and maintenance of all city-owned or operated assets, including the water supply system, sewer, streets, stormwater, snow removal, street cleaning,street signs, vehicles, buildings, land, etc.
4. Parks and recreation - construction and maintenance of city parks, common areas, parkways, publicly-owned land, operation of various recreation programs and facilities
5. Police
6. Fire
7. Emergency medical services
8. Emergency management
9. Accounting/finance - often tax collection, audits
10. Human resources - for city workers
11. General counsel/city attorney/risk management - legal matters such as writing municipal bonds, ensuring city compliance with state and federal law, responding to citizen lawsuitsstemming from city actions or inactions.
12. Transportation (varies widely) - if the city has a municipal bus or light rail service, this function may be its own department or it may be folded into the another of the above departments.
13. Information technology - supports computer systems used by city employees; may be also responsible for a city website, phones and other systems.
14. Housing department
15. Municipal court

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