American Government Chapter 25

Section 1 Counties, Towns, and Townships

The Counties

 Stats – county size   EXTREMES San Bernardino County, CA  20,064 square miles  Kalawao County, Hawaii  13 square miles

 Stats – population  Los Angeles County, CA  9 million people  Loving County, Texas  150 people

Powers of Typical County Govt.

   Levy taxes Executive Power Appropriate funds    Legislative Power Supervising road programs Managing county property

 Elected County Officials Titles & Job Description  Sherriff Keeps jail and furnishes police protection   Clerk Registers and records documents, mortgages  Assessor  Appraises property  Treasurer  Keeps county funds  Keeps financial records  Auditor

Titles & Jobs Cont.

  District Attorney Chief lawyer for the county   Coroner Investigates deaths  About 2 million people throughout the U.S. work in county government

Functions performed by county governments         1. keep peace 2. collect taxes 3. spend funds 4. build/repair roads & bridges 5. maintain schools 6. record deeds 7. licenses 8. etc.

Towns

 New England towns  They have been the major unit of local government for hundreds of years; its meetings are examples of direct democracy

Townships

  Differences In NY, NJ, PA: townships where formed where people settled, so they are not uniform in shape  From Ohio westward; townships are uniform in shape because they were drawn in federal public land surveys

Townships cont.

 States are divided into townships   How big is a township?

36 square miles (6 miles square)  Each township is divided into sections which are each 1 mile square  Sections can be divided into smaller lots (Half Section-320 acres, Quarter Sections 160 acres, Half Quarters-80 acres)

Special Districts

  Jobs of Special Districts 1. provide water, sewage and electrical service  2. furnish fire and police protection  3. build and maintain libraries, parks, schools etc.

Terms

  Borough - the main unit of local government in Alaska   County - the main unit of local government in most of the U.S.

  Special District - an independent unit of local government   Parish - the main unit of local government in Louisiana   Townships - Mainly in the Midwest – counties are divided into subunits that share the duties of local government