Local Government Structures and Their Reform

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Local Government Structures and Their Reform

• DMS (Chapter 11)

2
Defining Local Government

• General-Purpose Local Governments
• Counties
• Municipalities (cities)
• Towns and Townships (20 states)

3
Defining Local Government

• Single-Purpose Local Governments
• School districts
• Other special districts

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Local Governments Over Time
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Relationship with State Government

• Resembles unitary system
• Dillons Rule
• John F. Dillon (Iowa State Supreme Ct.)
• 1868 local govts can only exercise powers
  granted by state government
• Municipal corporations owe their origin to, and
  derive their powers and rights wholly from, the
  legislature. It breathes into them the breath of
  life, without which they cannot exist. As it
  creates, so may it destroy. If it may destroy, it
  may abridge and control. Clinton v Cedar Rapids
  and the Missouri River Railroad,(24 Iowa 455
  1868).
• The Supreme Court of the United States fully
  adopted Dillon's interpretation of the
  state-local relationship in Merrill v. Monticello
  (1891).

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Relationship with State Government

• Home Rule
• the right of local governments to
  self-government, granted by the state through a
  charter

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Relationship with State Government

• Local charters as local constitutions
• 2 general categories
• Special charters one for each local government
  (oldest form)

8
Relationship with State Government

• Local charters as local constitutions
• 2 general categories
• Special charters one for each local government
  (oldest form)
• General charters state writes single charter to
  apply to all local govts

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Counties

• Tremendous diversity in number and importance
  within states
• States with most counties

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Counties

• Tremendous diversity in number and importance
  within states
• States with most counties
• Texas 254
• Georgia 158
• Kentucky 120

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County Government

• Exist everywhere except RI CT (where they are
  not functional)

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County Government

• Exist everywhere except RI CT (where they are
  not functional)
• Counties as administrative appendages of state
  government (constitutional origin)

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County Government

• Exist everywhere except RI CT (where they are
  not functional)
• Counties as administrative appendages of state
  government (constitutional origin)
• 2000 36 of 48 states with home rule provisions
  for at least some of their counties

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County Government
15
County Government Structure
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County Government Structure

• Criticism of county government
• Too decentralized
• No elected central executive official
• No single professional administrator to manage
  county bureaucracy

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County Government Structure

• Alternative structures
• County council elected executive plan
• A two-branch system, with powers similar to
  that of a governor (budget, appointive)
• Around 400 counties

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County Government Structure

• Alternative structures
• County council elected executive plan
• A two-branch system, with powers similar to
  that of a governor (budget, appointive)
• Around 400 counties
• Council-administrator plan
• County board hires a professional administrator
  to to manage county government
• Around 1000 counties

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County Government Structure

• County government in KY
• Judge-Executive (elected chief executive)
• County legislative body is the Fiscal Court
• county judge- executive as presiding officer and
  from three to eight magistrates elected by
  districts (103 counties) or three commissioners
  elected at large (16 counties)
• Other elected county officers include
• Sheriff, county court clerk, Jailer, Coroner,
  surveyor.

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Municipalities (Cities)

• Created through incorporation
• Charter granted from state
• Necessary population threshold (Varies)
• Usually granted through local referendum

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What Cities Do

• Wider range of services than counties
• Police, fire, public works, parks and recreation,
  etc.

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What Cities Do

• Wider range of services than counties
• Police, fire, public works, parks and recreation,
  etc.
• Home Rule
• Some cities do, some dont (varies from state to
  state, but most states allow)

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City Government Structure

• General types
• Mayor-council (42.8)
• City commission (2)
• Council-manager (48.2)
• Town Meeting (5.8)

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Mayor-Council
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Strong vs. Weak Mayors

• Strong mayors
• Sole chief executive
• Elected by voters
• 4-year term, no limit on re-election
• Budget formulation
• Appointive and removal powers
• Veto power

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Strong vs. Weak Mayors

• Weak mayors
• Shares powers with council
• Becomes mayor through rotation
• 2-year term (firm)
• No veto power

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City Commission Form
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Council-Manager
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Council-Manager

• City Manager
• Appoints and removes department heads
• Oversees service delivery
• Develops personnel policies
• Prepares budget proposals
• Different managerial styles
• Administrative caretaker
• Innovator/Policy Leader

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The Progressive Era Reform Movement

• Reaction to Corrupt (Local) Political Machines
• Strong, popular leaders (mayors)
• System greased by bribes from local elites
• Party loyalty rewarded with patronage/favors
• Single-member districts characterized by ward
  politics
• Ward and precinct organizations

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The Organization of Political Machines
Machine Boss (Mayor)
Wards Run by Ward Committeemen
Precincts Run by precinct captains
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Precincts and Wards

• Ward committeemen and precinct captains
• Paid employees of city government
• Secure votes for party through various patronage
  and favors (informal social service agencies)
• Particularly effective with immigrants

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The Reform Movement

• Boss Tweed (New York)

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The Reform Movement

• Take partisanship out of local government and
  politics
• Civil service
• Nonpartisan elections

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The Reform Movement

• End stranglehold of ward/precinct politics on
  local elections
• Move from single-member districts to at-large
  elections

36
The Reform Movement

• Move power from mayor to other actors in local
  government
• City manager (manager-council)
• City council (weak mayor-council)

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The Consequences of Reform

• Civil service
• Nonpartisan elections
• At-large elections
• Strong vs. Weak mayors vs. City managers

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The Consequences of Reform

• Civil service
• Civil Service Commission

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The Consequences of Reform

• Advantage of private firms compared to public
• Ability to hire, fire, compensate, and therefore
  motivate and utilize workers with greater
  flexibility than government departments
  constrained by both civil service rules and
  strong unions

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The Consequences of Reform

• Nonpartisan elections

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The Consequences of Reform

• Hypothesized impact of nonpartisan elections

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The Consequences of Reform

• Hypothesized impact of nonpartisan elections (all
  supported)
• Reduced impact of party id on vote choice
• Reduced turnout
• Increased importance of incumbency

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The Consequences of Reform

• At-large elections (vs. SMD)
• Style of representation
• Minority representation
• Participation effects
• Political efficacy
• Political contact
• Voter turnout

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The Consequences of Reform

• Strong vs. Weak mayors vs. City managers
• Representation effects
• Participation effects

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State-Local Relations
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State-Local Relations

• Dillons Rule local governments may only
  exercise powers explicitly granted to them by the
  state

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State-Local Relations

• Scope of state regulatory power (not exhaustive)
• Local finances
• Personnel policies
• Government structure
• Government processes
• Functions/Services
• Service standards

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State Mandates

• State requirements that local governments
• Implement certain programs
• Follow certain rules
• Meet certain standards

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State Mandates

• Occur across a wide variety of policy areas
• environmental issues
• land use and planning
• education
• the administration of elections
• health care

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Changes in State Laws Governing Local
Administrative Operations
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State Mandates

• State mandates are often resented, if not
  resisted by local governments

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State Mandates

• State mandates are often resented, if not
  resisted by local governments
• impose costs on local governments
• displace local priorities in favor of state
  priorities
• limit the management flexibility of local
  governments

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State Mandates

• Factors influencing the success of state mandates
• the presence of state oversight and sanctions for
  noncompliance

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State Mandates

• Factors influencing the success of state mandates
• the presence of state oversight and sanctions for
  noncompliance
• mandate specifies exactly how the policy
  objective is to be achieved

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State Mandates

• Factors influencing the success of state mandates
• the presence of state oversight and sanctions for
  noncompliance
• mandate specifies exactly how the policy
  objective is to be achieved
• local commitment to state policy objectives

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State Mandates

• Factors influencing the success of state mandates
• the presence of state oversight and sanctions for
  noncompliance
• mandate specifies exactly how the policy
  objective is to be achieved
• local commitment to state policy objectives
• the availability of local resources to absorb the
  cost of implementation

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State Mandates
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A Case Study of Mandate ResistanceState
Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

• Boptrot- Business Organization and Profession
  (BOP) committees of the Kentucky Senate and House
  
• The trot refers to trotting races of harness
  horses
• Sting spanned eighteen months during which time
  more than 1,000 audio and video tapes were made
  of legislators accepting bribes in a local hotel
  lobby in the state capitol

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State Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

• 1992 - Executive Branch Code of Ethics was
  enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly
• 1993 - Legislative Code of Ethics

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State Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

• 1992 - Executive Branch Code of Ethics was
  enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly
• 1993 - Legislative Code of Ethics
• 1994 comprehensive local government ethics
  reform

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State Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

• KACo - KLC Proposal
• the establishment of a state-wide ethics board
  responsible for implementation and enforcement
• minimum standards for local governments wishing
  to write their own codes
• authorization for local boards to handle ethics
  complaints

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State Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

• Representative James Callahan (D-Southgate,
  Northern Kentucky)
• influential member of the General Assembly
• a former city mayor
• introduced House Bill 238
• approved by the House 84-10
• passed by the Senate by a vote of 32-4
• becomes law on July 15, 1994

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State Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

• Kentuckys law instructed local governments to
  enact ethics reform ordinances which mandated
  that all local governments -- 120 counties and
  435 cities -- address four areas in a written
  code of ethics
• Standards of conduct
• Financial disclosure
• Nepotism
• Enforcement of the code by local ethics boards.
• Local governments were required to file their
  code of ethics with the Department of Local
  Government (DLG) by January 1, 1995, or else
  state funds would be suspended.

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State Mandated Ethics Reform in Kentucky

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Measuring Ordinance Stringency
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Measuring Ordinance Stringency
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Explaining Ordinance Stringency across Kentucky
Cities

• Factors associated with ordinance stringency
• Media presence
• Electoral competition
• Small city population
• Local political culture (Moralistic counties)