Transcript U.S. Constitution Quiz

Special Purpose Districts and
Schools
Bob Botsch
Copyright 2012
What are spd’s?
• Created at request of citizens
• Corporate powers so that they can engage in
contracts and buy and dispose of property, sue
and be sued
• Governmental in nature with leaders who can be
held accountable (in theory)
• Have fiscal (service fees as major income) and
administrative independence
• Created to avoid limitations on debt of general
purpose govts
Different kinds of SPD’s
• Mostly single services like fire, water,
sewer, soil conservation, flood control,
housing, airports, zoos, recreation, natural
gas service, auditoriums (about 300 in SC)
• Some multi-service spd’s, e.g. Disney
World
• Schools (app. 90 districts)
How formed and why created?
•
•
Created by acts of legislature
Formed for 5 reasons:
1. Citizen desire for a service and not able to
be annexed
2. Get around service limitations of existing
govts
3. Get support from fed govt, e.g. grants
4. Provide service across local govt lines
5. Get around debt limits of local govts
Arguments for SPD’s
• Provides needed services that local govts
cannot or will not provide
• Close to people and can respond to needs
• Citizens see what they get for fees—not
hidden in general taxes
Arguments Against SPD’s
• Too small to be efficient
• Invisible and makes less accountable
• Increases fragmentation of govt and
makes coordination of local govts harder
• Favors special interests like developers
who then do not have to provide services
for new developments
• No longer needed b/c gen purpose govts
can provide
How did home rule and court
rulings affect SPD’s
• Home Rule Act prevents special legislation
necessary to create spd’s
• Legislature then created a general method to
create new spd’s to circumvent prohibition
• Courts ruled that spd’s that cross county lines
are not local legislation
• Hilton Head had to live with and coordinate
services from 6 spd’s there before incorporation
because of their political power
School District Structure and
Problems
• Like courts before modernization—a mess
• Not included under Home Rule—no general
laws that limit structures
• Many different structures—highly fragmented
(school boards, some elected, some appt, some
at-large, some districts, combos, partisan and
non-partisan, some with co board of ed as well
as school boards, variation in fiscal autonomy,
cross county lines)
• “no rhyme or reason” for this diversity—leads to
confusion over responsibility and inefficiency