Agenda Today

• Lecture: Local Government
• Discussion: Texas Special Legislature
• Module 2 Quiz

Introduction

• Local governments provide services we use every day:

    - Provide law enforcement, fire departments, roads, health services, parks, libraries, and schools.
    - Often provide utilities.
    - Airports, public transportation systems, mosquito control programs, and community recreation centers.
    - Interaction with government is, most of the time, interaction with local government.

Many Forms of Local Government

• Varying forms, powers and responsibilites because of variation in:

    - history
    - geography
    - political culture

Subdivisions of Local Government

• Counties

    - basic geographic and administrative subdivisions of state government
    - part of the state government

• Municipalities: Cities, towns, villages

    - Often but not always smaller than counties
    - independent corporations with charters
    - charter powers granted by state government, but city is separate from state government
    - Home rule cities have even more independence

• Special districts

    - single purpose
    - utility districts
    - road districts

Subdivisions of Local Government

• Regional governments

    - cross jurisdictions
    - joint efforts of municipalities and/or counties
    - Metropolitan organizations

Example: Houston Metro

    - City of Houston
    - Harris County 
    - 14 smaller, surrounding cities known as Multi-Cities
    - Nine member board 
    - Appointed by Houston Mayor, Harris County, Multi-cities
    
    

County Government

• County Commission

    - regular meetings
    - County Judge is the chair

• County Judge

    - Chief Executive of the County
    - "Judge of the Commissioners Court"
    - Not a judicial position
    - Other states name: Presiding Commissioner

• Precinct Commissioners

    - Four per county
    - Staggered four year terms
    - Precincts of roughly equal population

County Officials: Administration

• County Clerk
• County Attorney

County Clerk

• Keeps records
• Recorder of deeds
• marriage licenses
• births and deaths
• Chief Elections Officer

County Attorney

• Legal advisor to county commission
• handles civil matters for the county including civil enforcement actions
• handles some misdemeanor prosecutions
• Represents Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in child abuse and neglect cases
• handles mental health commitment proceedings

County Officials: Finance

• Tax Assessor-Collector
• Treasurer
• Auditor

Tax Assessor-Collector

• Sets valuations on properties
• Calculates and sets county property tax rates
• Collects taxes for county - sometimes for other districts like schools, cities, etc.
• Issues car and boat licenses and registration
• Processes car and boat titles
• Collects various fees
• Registers voters

Treasurer

• Keeps the counties financial records
• handles county bank accounts
• Receives and deposits funds
• Disburses funds, payroll
• Invests county money
• conducts some audits if there is no auditor

Auditor

• Appointed by the district judge(s).
• Prepares and administers accounting records for all county funds.
• Audits the records and accounts of the various county departments.
• Verifies the validity and legality of all county disbursements.
• Forecasts financial data for budgetary formulation purposes.
• Serves as budget officer in counties with more than 225,000 residents. (Counties with more than 125,000 residents may opt for an appointed budget officer.)

County Officials: Law enforcement and courts

• Sheriff
• Justice of the Peace (Discussed in Judicial)
• Constables
• District Clerk
• District Attorney

Sheriff

    - elected chief law enforcement officer
    - Manages and operates the county jail.
    - Provides security for the courts.
    - Serves warrants and civil papers.
    - Regulates bail bondsmen in counties with no bail bond board.
    - May serve as the Tax Assessor-Collector in counties with fewer than 8,000 residents.

Constables

• Elected officials

• Precinct level (JOP precincts)

    - Enforcing criminal and traffic laws
    - Conducting criminal investigations
    - Serving warrants, civil process, and precepts
    - Being present at Justice of the Peace hearings
    - Acting as bailiff
    - Subpoenaing witnesses
    - Executing judgments

• District Clerk

    - Clerk of the District Court - maintains all court records
    - collects filing fees
    - handles funds held in litigation and money awarded to minors
    - Coordinates the jury panel selection process.
    - May process passport applications.
    - Manages court registry funds.

District Attorney

    - Represents the state in prosecuting felony criminal cases.
    - Works with law enforcement officers in the investigation of criminal cases.
    - Presents cases to the grand jury.
    - Represents victims of violence in protective orders and represents the state in removing children from abusive households.

Overlap and other officials

Some counties have overlap, especially smaller ones

    - Some have only one attorney who acts as County and District Attorney
    - In some the Sheriff is the Tax Assessor-Collector
    - In some the Tax Assessor-Collector runs elections
    - Some have no auditor
    

Some counties have other officials such as

    - An Elections Adminstrator who handles elections instead of the County Clerk
    
    

City Government Types

• Mayor Council

    - Strong Mayor
    - Weak Mayor

• Council-manager

    - Elected City Council
    - Mayor presides over the Council
    - City Manager runs the city government day

• Commission

    - uncommon
    - started in Galveston
    - no longer in use in Texas

Strong and Weak Mayor systems

• Strong Mayor (Houston has this)

    - Mayor is directly elected
    - Mayor is the chief executive
    - Mayor can veto council actions      
    - Mayor appoints department heads
    - Mayor sets the Council agenda
    - In Houston, Council mamembers can not add items to the Council agenda at all without Mayor's approval

• Weak mayor

    - Mayor is directly elected
    - Mayor presides over council meetings
    - Mayor cannot directly appoint or remove department heads
    - Mayor lacks veto power

Authorship and License

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.