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TEXT 6: Governance

 

 

Governance is an entire topic within itself, as the methods and manner of governance available to each local government is dependent on various branches of State law. Cities have the most flexibility; like counties, they have the ability to adopt and amend charters. Generally, the governance models available to cities include: mayor-council, council-manager, mayor-council-administrator, commission, or commission-manager. Towns have much less flexibility and are governed by boards and a supervisor. Villages have boards of trustees and mayor, manager or administrator. This is a gross over-simplification of the structures available, on which there are many variations (and there are also distinctions under State law among cities and towns, depending on their size and other considerations). The question is– why should each local government’s options for legislative and executive management be controlled by models that were designed for a different century?

In towns, many basic municipal services such as sewer, water, and sanitation and fire protection are provided through “special districts,” which may be either a subcomponent of the town, or a separately governed municipal entity. These structures were created to provide services that towns could not directly provide. However, in today’s environment, where these services are provided throughout many towns, the use of special districts as a governance or tax allocation method is increasingly questioned. Special district expenses are far from incidental — representing 70 percent of town property taxes in Nassau County, for example. Special districts providing fire protection and sanitation have recently come under intense scrutiny, and press accounts and audits have found excessive expenditures and other problems. The State Comptroller’s Office is focusing more attention on special districts given these problems.

 

DIVISION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT / Municipal Structures

 

 


Date: 2015-01-12; view: 992


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