Consolidated city-county

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In American local government, a consolidated city-county, metropolitan municipality or regional municipality is a city and county that have been merged into one jurisdiction. As such, it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation; and a county, which is an administrative division of a state. This is the opposite of an independent city, which is a city that is not located within the boundaries of any county, but is separate from the neighboring county. All cities in Virginia are independent cities, and Baltimore, Maryland; Carson City, Nevada; and St. Louis, Missouri are as well. The highest concentration of large consolidated governments in the United States is in the lower midwest and upper south, where Indianapolis, Indiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and Lexington, Kentucky are located.

The terms "metropolitan municipality" and "regional municipality" attempt to distinguish between a city-county containing urban areas that formerly existed as independent municipalities (New York City and Philadelphia), or a city-county containing urban, suburban and even rural areas, some of which may have never had an independent, subcounty government (e.g., Indianapolis or Jacksonville). Individual sections of a metropolitan or regional municipality may retain some autonomous jurisdiction apart from the city-wide government. New York City, for example, consists of five counties/boroughs, each of which retains certain local powers through their own borough councils and presidents.

Consolidated city-counties may also be called metropolitan governments and metropolitan counties -- however, "metropolitan county" can also refer to jurisdictions like Arlington County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland, both of which are counties that contain no incorporated municipalities.

England has six "metropolitan counties" created in 1974: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, and West Yorkshire. From 1986, they do not have County Councils but rather joint boards for certain functions. Modern unitary authorities are similar, and are known as county boroughs in Wales. In Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh are functionally "independent cities," though the term is not used.

Similar arrangements exist in other countries such as Seoul, South Korea, which is a "Special City."

Wyandotte County, Kansas, uses the term "unified government" to refer to its consolidation with Kansas City, Kansas, and most of the towns within the county boundaries in which some cities and towns remain separate jurisdictions within the county.

Often, in place of another level of government, municipalities form coalitions — essentially governmental organizations which are not empowered with any lawmaking or law enforcement powers. This is the case in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) studies and makes recommendations on the impact of all major construction and development projects on the region, but generally cannot stop them. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) is a true government agency of the state of Georgia, and does control some state transportation monies to the cities and counties, but otherwise has very little authority beyond this small power of the purse.

Contents

[edit] List of consolidated city-counties

[edit] Consolidated since their creation

[edit] Merged

[edit] Merged with some independent municipalities

Five cities in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia were formed by the consolidation of a city with a county — Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach (from Norfolk, Elizabeth City, Warwick, Nansemond, and Princess Anne counties, respectively). However, in each case an independent city was created and as such they are not consolidated city-counties. Similarly, Carson City was consolidated with Ormsby County, Nevada in 1969, but the county was simultaneously dissolved. The city is now a municipality independent of any county.

[edit] Potentially consolidated

  • Aurora, Colorado, split between three counties, explored the creation of a new consolidated city-county in 1996; the effort subsequently failed in a referendum. However, five years later nearby Broomfield was successful in creating a new city-county from portions of the four counties it had been a part of. Encouraged by Broomfield's experience, an Aurora city councilman has recently proposed consolidation again, which could happen as early as 2008.[11]
  • Roanoke County, Virginia and Roanoke City, Virginia held referenda in 1969 and 1989 to consolidate the two governments. Both times, city voters approved consolidation while county voters were opposed. The independent city of Salem, Virginia, which would have been surrounded by the consolidated entity, did not participate in the referenda. Vinton, Virginia would have retained its status as a town in the 1989 referendum. The consolidation issue has been dormant since 1989.
  • A proposal has been made to merge Johnson County, Kansas and Wyandotte County, Kansas and the cities located in those two into a single consolidated city-county, name to be determined.[12]
  • In 2005, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio published a series of articles exploring the possibility of the city's merging with Cuyahoga County.[13]

[edit] Considered consolidation

[edit] Formerly consolidated

  • The City of Boston and Suffolk County, Massachusetts operated with a consolidated government for most of the twentieth century, but this was not a true consolidation because three municipalities (Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop) never amalgamated with Boston but remained separate jurisdictions within Suffolk County. The special relationship between Boston and Suffolk County ended in 1999 as part of the gradual abolition of county government in that state.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Website of the Municipality of Anchorage
  2. ^ a b Colorado Municipal Incorporations (HTML). State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives (December 1, 2004). Retrieved on November 24, 2006.
  3. ^ Website of the City and County of Broomfield
  4. ^ Website of the County of Honolulu
  5. ^ Website of the Community of Anaconda
  6. ^ Website of Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government
  7. ^ Website of Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government
  8. ^ Official New York City Website
  9. ^ Website of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana
  10. ^ Website of Louisville Metro Government
  11. ^ City and County of Aurora? by J.C. O'Connell. The Aurora Daily Sun & Sentinel, January 30, 2006.
  12. ^ Johnson-Wyandotte merger? by Jesse Truesdale. The [Bonner Springs] Chieftain, February 2, 2006.
  13. ^ A Region Divided. Special series of The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer, published throughout 2005.
  14. ^ NCSU Innovation Online, by Diane Cherry
  15. ^ Both sides say Evansville-Vanderburgh County merger is possible, by Thomas B. Langhorne. Indiana Economic Digest, February 13, 2006
  16. ^ 79(R) SJR 9 in the Texas State Legislature
  17. ^ [1]Alaska Division of Community Advocacy
  18. ^ Debate stirs on consolidation, by Benjamin Lanka. The [Fort Wayne] Journal Gazette, March 5, 2006.
  19. ^ Business Backs Consolidated Government, by Kate Miller. Memphis Business Journal, March 15, 2002.
  20. ^ City of Orlando / Orange County Consolidation of Services Study Commission
  21. ^ Town Meeting: Louisville mayor offers primer on uniting city-county government, By Jeffrey Cohan. Pittsburgh Post Gazette, October 1, 2004.
  22. ^ Skepticism greets ‘Unigov’ summit, by Tom Troy. The Toledo Blade, March 4, 2004.
  23. ^ NCSU Innovation Online, by Diane Cherry

[edit] See also

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