Administrative divisions of Connecticut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The primary political subdivisions of the state of Connecticut are its towns. New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in that the entire territory of the state is completely covered by them. However, they differ primarily in that New England towns, particularly in Connecticut, have broad home rule, and have all the powers that a city in other states would normally have.
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[edit] County
While Connecticut is divided geographically into eight counties, these counties do not have any associated government structure. The Connecticut General Assembly abolished all county governments on October 1, 1960. Counties are, however, still used by the state to organize its judicial and state marshall system.
- See also: List of counties in Connecticut
[edit] Regions
The dissolution of county governments in 1960 created a vacuum of power at the regional level, which created huge problems when it came to land use and infrastructure planning. Because the power once reserved for county governments was now in the hands of municipal administrations, major land use, environmental, and infrastructure issues often pitted one town against another, resulting in little or no progress.
In an effort to resolve these conflicts, the State of Connecticut passed legislation in the 1980s establishing 15 regional councils, which cluster towns with similar demographics into an administrative planning region, instead of adhering to the old county structure. These regions are:
- Capitol Region (Hartford area)
- Central Connecticut Region (Bristol-New Britain area)
- Central Naugatuck Valley Region (Waterbury area)
- Connecticut River Estuary Region (Old Saybrook area)
- Greater Bridgeport Region (Bridgeport area)
- Housatonic Valley Region (Danbury area)
- Litchfield Hills Region (Torrington area)
- Lower Naugatuck Valley Region (Derby area)
- Midstate Region (Middletown area)
- Northeastern Connecticut Region (Danielson area)
- Northwestern Connecticut Region (Sharon area)
- South Central Region (New Haven area)
- Southeastern Connecticut Region (Norwich-New London area)
- Southwestern Region (Stamford-Norwalk area)
- Windham Region (Willimantic area)
Unlike county governments, the authority of regional councils are limited to land use policymaking, infrastructure development, and long-term planning for population and economic changes for the communities within their respective jurisdiction.
[edit] Town
The 169 towns of Connecticut are the principal units of local government in the state and have full municipal powers including:
- Corporate powers
- Eminent domain
- Ability to levy taxes
- Public services (low cost housing, waste disposal, fire, police, ambulance, street lighting)
- Public works (highways, sewers, cemeteries, parking lots, etc.)
- Regulatory powers (building codes, traffic, animals, crime, public health)
- Environmental protection
- Economic development
Towns traditionally have the town meeting form of government and is still used by many of of the 169 towns. 19 towns are also incorporated as cities, while 1 town (Naugatuck) is also incorporated as a borough. The 20 consolidated borough-town and city-towns are classified by the Census Bureau as both minor civil divisions and incorporated places, while the other 149 towns are classified only as minor civil divisions. Some of the larger, urban towns are also classified in their entirety as Census designated places
- See also: List of towns in Connecticut
[edit] City
There are 20 incorporated cities in Connecticut. 19 of these cities are coextensive with their towns, with the city and town governments also consolidated. 1 incorporated city (Groton) has jurisdiction only over part of its town. Cities in Connecticut are dependent on their town if they are not consolidated with the town government.
All cities are treated by the Census Bureau as incorporated places.
- See also: List of cities in Connecticut
[edit] Borough
In addition to cities, Connecticut also has another type of dependent municipality known as a borough. Boroughs are usually the populated center of a town that decided to incorporate in order to have more responsive local government. When a borough is formed, it is still part of and dependent on its town. There are 10 boroughs in Connecticut. One borough is coextensive and consolidated with its town. The other nine boroughs have jurisdiction over only a small part of their town.
All boroughs are treated by the Census Bureau as incorporated places.
- See also: Category:Boroughs in Connecticut
[edit] Village, neighborhood, section of town
Connecticut also has a fair number of unincorporated communities that are known locally as villages (usually in more rural areas), neighborhoods or "sections of" (phrasing particularly popular in Stamford, Connecticut) a city or town. Villages often have no separate legal/corporate existence from the town they are in, although a taxing district or volunteer fire department may exist for specific services. People who reside within a village often identify with the town rather than the village.
These unincorporated areas are often associated with historic districts. Many of these villages are treated by the Census Bureau as Census designated places.
- See also: Category:Villages in Connecticut
- See also: Category:Neighborhoods in Connecticut
- See also: Category:Census-designated places in Connecticut
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State of Connecticut |
|---|---|
| Topics |
Culture | Geography | Government | History | Images |
| Capital | Hartford |
| Regions |
Central Naugatuck River Valley | Gold Coast | Greater Bridgeport | Greater Danbury | Greater New Haven | Greater Hartford | Litchfield Hills | Lower Connecticut River Valley | Quiet Corner | Southeastern Connecticut |
| Counties |
Fairfield | Hartford | Litchfield | Middlesex | New Haven | New London | Tolland | Windham |
| Cities |
Ansonia | Bridgeport | Bristol | Danbury | Derby | Groton | Hartford | Meriden | Middletown | Milford | New Britain | New Haven | New London | Norwalk | Norwich | Shelton | Stamford | Torrington | Waterbury | West Haven |
| Places |
Towns | Boroughs | Villages | Historic Places | Geography |
