Local Government in the United States: Mayors, Police, and School Councils

For nearly six years, Sandy Evans called on the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia to postpone the start of high school classes to a later time. Evans decided to run for a vacancy in the school board of 12 members and won the election. She again tried to start classes for high school students after 7: 20 in the morning.

As stated in the material Share AmericaIn 2014, Evans and the new school board members, with the support of a new principal and other members, approved the start time for 8: 10 am for high schools in Fairfax County, which is 10 in the United States. “This is not the only problem,” Evans admits, “but she was my priority on the board of directors.”

Welcome to US local government.

What is the local government doing?

The United States relies on a system called “federalism” in which state powers are distributed between local, state, and national authorities. This is an important point, as citizens face different levels of government every day, but for different reasons.

Local government is the cornerstone of American life, because citizens interact most closely with it, says Carla Jones, director of international affairs and federalism at the American Council of Legislative Exchanges, based in Washington. Local governments offer citizens a wide range of basic services, including water supply and sewage, garbage collection, snow removal, housing and transportation services, approval of school curriculum standards and public safety.

For example, when Americans call emergency services, a local police officer, a fireman, or a medical assistant comes to them. These employees are accountable to the local government, and their work is most often paid from the local budget, which is replenished from local taxes.

“This is the basis of government, and it is partly due to our federalism, where any powers that are not exercised by the national government are transferred to state and local governments,” Jones explains.

The illustration shows which branch of government certain authorities belong to:

Photo: State Dept.

How many local governments exist in the USA?

According to the census of authorities 2012 of the year, which is held every 5 years, in the United States there are about 90 thousand units of local government.

Illinois leads the census with seven thousand local government units. Hawaii has the least of them - 21 unit.

Basically, local government is divided into 2 levels: larger territories are called counties (parishes in Louisiana and towns in Alaska), municipalities, or cities. In some cases, districts are divided into settlements.

Depending on the state constitution, municipalities may take different forms. They can be called villages, towns, cities, settlements or major cities.

Local government is built on a system of mutual concessions. For example, a member of the Fairfax County School Board, Evans, wanted to get high school students to start classes at 8: 30 mornings. “Everyone had to make a contribution to embody this idea. You have to learn to listen to other people and compromise, ”says Evans.

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