Compare the Differences between three forms of local government
Local government is the term used to describe the lower tiers of the public administration in a sovereign state and has a subnational jurisdiction. This is in contrast with the national government, whose jurisdiction is over the entire country. This level of government acts within the powers delegated by the country’s highest level, often the Federal government, like the case in the United States.
Therefore, the concept of the local government is rooted in the national heritage and is usually more responsive to the needs of the citizens, for example, on matters about the environment and transportation (Jäske, 2017). One forms of local government is the municipality, whose jurisdiction lies over villages, towns, and cities and is represented by a resident-elected council. Its role is to ensure that services in the best interest of businesses, organizations, and residents are delivered at a cost that the residents can afford. It is also a means of collecting the concerns and thoughts and creating opportunities at the community level to solve these concerns.
It provides administrative services such as land use planning, localized policies, and emergency measures. This forms of government is different from the regional municipality, which only takes care of administrative roles and emergency and planning services. The residents can choose whether they are willing to pay for other optional services through taxes.
Regional municipalities tend to take more than one municipality but tend to have a minimum population limit of about fifteen thousand people. This local government level takes on roads and law enforcement responsibilities in a larger region than a single municipal. Another forms of local government in the rural community focuses on providing local services at the local level in the rural areas, unlike a municipality and a regional municipality that takes on the role in urban areas and the surrounding regions.
It usually involves a smaller population of about three thousand people, providing community emergency services. A group of local service districts, therefore, forms it. Other forms of local government include county governments lead by a board of commissioners, and special districts, several of which form a county.
Council-Manager Forms of Local Government
This is a system that tends to combine solid political leadership and strong managerial experience within the local government to deliver efficient local services. Therefore, the power lies within the elected council, who are professionally trained to deliver their mandate to the people. The council can terminate the manager’s tenure if it is dissatisfied with their responsiveness to the set mandate (Deslatte et al., 2019). Therefore the council tends to take a legislative role and is thus the community decision-makers, with centralized power on the community budget and the plan to meet the community goals.
The manager tends to be hired by the council based on merit, which benefits the community at large with proficient administration. Therefore, the council will expect objective and complete information on the council manager and the council by the residents. This forms of government tends to reduce the cost of competent management at the local level. The council-manager tends to participate in the council decision-making process by providing them with expert advice.
This is unlike the mayor, who tends to take the role of political leadership (Nelson & Afonso, 2019). The council manager’s remuneration depends on their educational level, level of experience, the complexity of the government and their duty, and prevailing economic conditions. Despite the requirement of managerial expertise in governance, active citizen participation is a priority.
References
- Deslatte, A., Scott, T. A., & Carter, D. P. (2019). Specialized governance and regional land-use outcomes: A spatial analysis of Florida community development districts. Land Use Policy, 83, 227-239.
- Jäske, M. (2017). ‘Soft’forms of direct democracy: Explaining the occurrence of referendum motions and advisory referendums in Finnish local government. Swiss Political Science Review, 23(1), 50-76.
- Nelson, K. L., & Afonso, W. B. (2019). Ethics by Design: The Impact of Form of Government on Municipal Corruption. Public Administration Review, 79(4), 591-600.
