POLS Unit 4

-The increasing amount of immigrants in urban cities appealed to many politicians, causing them to provide the services needed by the immigrants in exchange for their votes. -These politicians were also known as ________________ and soon controlled municipal government; when organized, they became what we call an _______________.

"ward heelers"; urban machine

Where is most of local governments' money spent?

K-12 education

How do special districts fund services?

Sometimes special districts charge individuals for services, sometimes the constituent government provide funds.

Large counties have additional _________ to deal with judicial responsibilities.

additional officials

When did the commission form of gov. originate?

after a major hurricane hit Galveston,Texas (the mayor and city council were not willing to or not competent to clean up the damages swiftly and restore order)

Special districts make decisions best for...

all instead of existing governments trying to vie for advantages over each other

Shared funding between states and school districts was supposed to...

allow school districts to add enrichment programs beyond curriculum BUT→ School districts w/ higher tax rates spent less per enrolled student -Possible solutions: states could still fund public education with property taxes, but use statewide property value per student as the tax base OR have a state property tax and then distribute funds to school districts based on the number of students and other factors (# of special needs students as defined by the state)

In the representative town meeting form, ________________ makes decisions, but all citizens may attend and participate in council meetings.

an elected council

what services are provided by special districts?

are often limited most often in a single policy area, such as fire protection, mosquito abatement, soil conservation, public transit, water supply, and recreation.

How is the Council( Legislative body) elected?

at large election or single-member districts

Why is there a declining number of school districts?

because of increasing urbanization (banding once separated rural districts together)

County courts are a part of state court systems and do not...

check or balance county legislative and executive branches

Where are mayor/council form of municipal gov most common?

cities with a pop. over 250,000

as administrators, the council the the Municipal/commission form of govt. :

commissioners oversee city departments and carry out policies approved by the Council; mayor assigns departments and bureaus

What is the most misunderstood and mislabeled entity in state government?

commissioners' court

Who sets out the county tax rate and county budget?

county commissioner court

Who usually does not have power to legislate, and functions primarily as an administrative arm of the state government?

county governments

Municipal/town meeting forms have _______________ citizen participation.

direct

What did machines do to the wealthy?

displaced the elite, wealthy classes that previously governed in their own interests and who were unresponsive to raising their own personal taxes to help the poor immigrants

What is Strong Mayor/Council frequently accompanied by?

district and partisan elections

The amount of spending per student for a given tax rate is dependent on...

district's property tax base divided by its number of students

County executives:

elected (sheriff, clerk, tax assessor)

Who act as the legislative body in Municipal/town meeting forms?

eligible citizens who attend town meetings

Reform movement:

elite people got pissed because the machines took their power, so they forced cities to reform

How is the Mayor( Chief executive) elected?

from the city in Large Election

Municipal/commission form of govt. proved unsuccessful because...

the annual city budget placed commissioners in a contradictory position of being advocates for their own departments while simultaneously working for the good of the city as a whole

Municipal govt./Commission form:

the city is run by a small group of elected commissioners acting in legislative and executive capacities.

What powers do mayors in mayor/ council gov have?( substantial powers)

-Budget, Veto, enable him or her to control executive departments and the agenda of city council -Preside over council meetings and have the power to vote -Employs the checks and balances ideas of how to form public policy

What is the key idea of Municipal Council/ Manager?

-No partisan way to provide services (no Democratic way to teach Johnny to read and no Republican way to decide when streets need to be repaved) -Best policy: professional one that need be neither competitive nor cooperative but should be sound and well based

What powers do weak mayor lack?

-Powers to influence budget -Substantial formal powers and powers to vote -some only have a tie breaking vote in the council

What are the 2 types of special districts in Texas?

-School districts= are a specific type of special district that provides public education in a designated area. Governed by an elected board of trustees The board employs a superintendent -Nonschool special district

What services do county government provide?

-construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges, law enforcement, dispute resolution, record keeping, social services

What are the different types of local governments?

-counties -municipalities -townships -school districts -special districts

What are county commissioner courts?

-county governing bodies (aka board of supervisors in northeast) -combine functions of both legislative and executive branches

**** What are the types of local government?

-municipal government (mayor/council form) -municipal council/manager) -Municipal/town meeting form -municipal gov/commission form -special districts

Federal pay in schools:

-pays for free breakfast & free/ reduced lunch for INCREASE OF READINESS

Specifically in Texas, what services do the county governments provide?

-restaurant inspection -jails and county courts (which hear civil and misdemeanor criminal cases)

What kind of people hold an ignorance about county names and locations?

-visitors, long-term residents, short-term residents -Ex: you probably know that college station is in Brazos County, but how many other 253 Texas Counties can you identify by name and location?

Municipal/commission form of govt. are used by ___% of cities.

1% (overall, does not claim a lot of success)

the term "town or township governments'' is applied to ______________ organized governments.

16,504

Denton Fracking Ban:

2 major TX ideals collide -opponents of fracking were not opposed to oil drilling in general, just how close it was to home. -wanted to introduce a bill that would ban fracking -Denton is conservative -Vote for fracking ban is 60% -Denton as a local government cannot ban fracking; rights of mineral owners should take precedence over the rights of home owners and residents

There are now __________ special districts in Texas, not including school districts- more than any other form of local government.

2,309

How many local governments are there?

90,000 (3,000 counties, 19,000 municipalities, 17,000 townships, 13,000 school districts, 38,000 special districts)

What does the county commissioner court consist of?

A county judge and 4 county commissioners

Municipal Council/Manager:

A form of local government in which the publicly elected city council hires a professional administrator to manage city affairs (same form used in independent school districts because the Municipal Reform Movement created both)

Who uses the Municipal Council/Manager form of government?

All independent school districts and 59% of cities use this form; the majority in the cities of populations less than 250,000

Who decides how the money gets spent?

Sheriffs

Which state does not have county governments?

Connecticut

Which is the oldest local government?

County government

Over the years, federal government trust and favorability has ___________________. Local government is ___________ trusted and favored than both state and federal

DECLINED; more

What is an example of NIMBY?

Denton Fracking Ban

Special districts arise when...

Existing governments meet a problem that affects multiple governments=existing governments agree that a new unit of gov't can be more effective in resolving conflicts than trying on their their own

In a municipal commision form of govt., who do voters elect?

Mayor (head of executive) and four commissioners (City Council)

Can there still be mayors in a Municipal Council/Manager form of govt?

Mayor may still exist with few formal powers and is the face of the city, but is nothing more than member of the city council. He is a council member that signs proclamations and greets visitors. Mass media often focus on the mayor, which gives the mayor unusual access to the media and enhances their influence. Mayors have one vote on the council, like other members.

_____________ "moderate" town meetings and may have additional symbolic duties, and ________________ may be hired to manage municipal employees.

Mayors; administrators

What created both the municipal council and independent school districts?

Municipal Reform Movement

Which type of local government is a relatively old form of gov't adopted from England and suggests that checks and balances form of govt. are copies of english municipal?

Municipal government: Mayor/council form

What is the most common form of govt in cities with a population of at least 250,000?

Municipal govt.: Mayor/council form

Municipal/town meeting forms are mainly used in _____________ states.

New England states (date back to colonial times)

policy making by competition:

Strong mayor/council form of municip. Govt employees checks and balances ideas of how to form public policy, each checks and balances the other in making public policy, In other words, the best policy is the one that meet the approval of both the executive and legislative branch.

What control does the public have over special district governance?

The public may have little or no direct control over special district governance.

What can special districts be created to do?

They can be created to do almost anything that is legal

City manager:

a professional hired by the city council to manage the workings of the city staff in a council manager form of government. Usually has earned graduate degrees and have national associations and may have careers that see them moving long distances as they move up the career ladder.

Special Districts:

a unit of local government that performs a single service in a limited geographic area (can be created to serve an entire county, part of a county, all of two or more counties..)

Who establish basic curriculum requirements?

states (school districts follow through and add additional elements as they see fit)

What do local governments provide?

a broad range of services on which we depend

what is an example of county administration?

a driver's license is a state function performed by counties in the local area.

County governments in Texas are primarily for...

governing rural areas and have constricted powers

County commissioner:

government official (4 per county) on the county commissioners' court whose main duty is the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. Both pass county policies and see to their administration. Positions are part-time with low pay (most counties have very little for county gov. to do, but this does not discourage them to get position) Owners of large farms and ranches seek these positions to protect themselves from the loss of services or higher taxes on their property.

What are the responsibilities of a city manager?

hiring/ firing, daily ops and budget preparation. Have few formal powers.

In contrast to number of school districts, special districts continue to__________. More than 2 times in the last 62 years.

increase

The number of special districts has _____________ dramatically in the last 50 years

increased

Mayor/council govt. has the division between ______________ and ______________ branches which dates back to English history.

legislative body (city council); chief executive (mayor)

In a county commissioner court, ______________ and ______________ are the same people; thus ______________ the functions.

legislature; executive; combine

The town and representative town meeting municipal government are used in _____________ % of municipalities.

less than 4%

What services do county governments provide?

limited number of governmental services, such as maintaining property records, providing public health care, and maintaining roads in rural areas.

What is the most complex level of our government?

local

The function of county commissioner courts is largely dependant on...

location and size

Weak mayor:

mayor that lacks substantial formal powers (preside over council meetings and have the power to vote); some weak mayors have only a tie-breaking vote in the council; HOWEVER, personality, or political influence through organized political parties, and other informal powers can be more important than formal powers

Strong mayor:

mayor with substantial formal powers (budget making and veto power); employs the checks and balances ideas of how to form public policy

Practice of "government closest to the people governs best"

most people most of the time are more interested in who can keep them safe and who can bring economic benefits, closest to them Ideals: popular sovereignty

Since there is FREE education provided by INDEPENDENT school districts almost everywhere in U.S., school govts. are no longer...

municipal gov

Is there an independent chief executive to check and balance the commision?

no, acts as a legislative body

What is the greatest source of revenue for local governments?

property and sales tax and things they charge for (utilities)

The increasing amount of immigrants in urban cities appealed to many politicians, causing them to:

provide the services needed by the immigrants in exchange for their votes.

How does the manager of council/ manager get their position?

publicly elected city council appoints city manager

Reformed the dates of municipal elections to be further from the dates of partisan state and federal elections to

reduce voter turnout

Merit system:

reform of selecting public employees was intended to disable the machine's awarding public jobs to supporters

Secret ballot:

reform that forced people to not say who they were voting for; was lawful before this reform to indicate one's voting preferences; aka Australian ballot; caused machines to no longer be certain that supporters voted for them

Nonpartisan elections:

reform that made candidates not identifiable by a party label; this made it difficult for those with weaker literacy to know which candidates were machine candidates

Strong-mayor:

reform where the mayor has power to fill many positions by appointment and given a major role in taxing and spending decisions; this reform clarified who was responsible for government actions, better protected agency heads (police chief) from politics by making them appointed, and resulted in short-ballot reform bc there were fewer officials to elect

Tax rates were negative w/ spending bc school districts...

rely on property tax

Not In My Backyard:

residents oppose nearby public/private projects or developments

who elects superintendents in a council/manager form of gov't?

school board

as a legislative body, the council the the Municipal/commission form of govt. :

the council adopts the City budget and passes its laws, policies and regulations.

County judge:

the person in each Texas 254 counties who presides over the constitution county court and county commissioners court, with resposibility of the administration of county government

Federal spending on public education is targeted to schools based largely on ____________________.

their numbers of students from low income families

What happens at an annual town meeting?

to approve tax and budget plans and to elect board of officers called selectmen to carry out town policy (There are additional town meetings throughout the year to make a wider range of legislative decisions)

Political goal of reform movement:

to make a small group of wealthy and middle class residents the majority participants in municipal elections and forums

The Municipal Council/Manager form of govt. usually results in...

two ill-defined and unlabeled political parties forming-one supportive of the manager and one opposed.