Four forms of local government: counties, townships, special districts, and municipalities

¶ … Local Government

Forms of Government

In delineation, local government can be deemed a public organization ratified for decision-making and administration of a restricted variety of public policies within a comparatively small region, which is a unit of a regional or national government. In particular, local government is the bottommost governmental institution whereas the topmost ranked institutions are the national government followed by states, region and provincial governments (Gale, 2008). There are four forms of government used in the local government and these include counties, townships, special districts and municipalities (Nelson and Svara, 2011).

Counties

More often than not, counties are the biggest political units, and their key and fundamental role is the administration of the laws of the state within their borders. The designated officials that offer leadership within this particular form of government are referred to as commissioners or supervisors. The main advantage of counties is aside from their main duties, they also maintain armistice and harmony, maintain jails, undertake tax collection, construct and renovate roads and bridges in addition to the recording of title deeds, matrimonies, and deaths (U.S. History.Org, 2016).

2. Townships

Townships can be defined as subdivisions and units of government. However, in America, they do not exist in over 50% of the states. In essence, townships can be considered as another term for a city or a town. In addition, it might be a division of a nation (The White House, 2016). One of the upsides of townships that can also be deemed a downside is the fact that they have various and dissimilar responsibilities in the expanses that have them. In addition, another advantage is that a township provides residents with particular social infrastructure and supplementary facilities. For instance, townships have to provide the residents with schools and also facilities for basic medical care (Rai, 2008).

3. Special Districts

These particular forms of local governments have special and distinctive functions. The most acknowledged example of a special district is the local school district. However, in recent periods there is an increase in number of other forms of special districts. This is particularly in largely populated expanses where there is an overload of work such as city and county government (U.S. History.Org, 2016). One of the advantages of special districts is that they are obliged to offer safeguard to the health, welfare and well-being of the residents irrespective of the general public demand. Another advantage is that they are easily responsive to their residents since they are smaller. In addition, special districts are able to connect the costs incurred to the benefits in that the residents who benefit from such services pay for them directly. One of the disadvantages of special districts is that they can result in inefficiency since they provide similar services to cities and counties. Another downside of special districts is a decline in accountability in that the variety of restricted purpose special districts can make it more challenging and difficult for the general public to collect information (Mizany and Manatt, 2002).

4. Municipalities

City, town, or constituency governments obtain their power and authority to decree rules and regulations only as it is allowed by the state. In the contemporary, roughly 80% of the population in America resides in municipalities, and therefore municipal governments have an influence on the lives of numerous residents.

Charter

A local charter is a basic document that outlines the organization, authority, powers, functions and fundamental procedures of the local government. Comparisons of the local charter can be made to the constitution of a state as well as the constitution of the United States. Taking this into consideration, the local charter can be deemed as the most significant single law of any local government. The local charter can be utilized to outline the basic powers, authority and structure. What is more, it can be utilized by the citizens to understand their level of participation as a general public. Other important information that the citizens can obtain from the local charter include the safety of the environment, the health, safety and wellbeing of individuals and property within the expanse, licensing and accrediting of businesses and occupations, in addition to the creation and termination of government departments or divisions (Coon, 2015).