Who Really Runs Your Town: The Hidden Rules That Control Local Government

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The mayor is not always the person running a town’s daily operations. Some communities elect a mayor to lead the administration; others put a professional manager in charge while elected leaders set policy.

Local officials also work within powers granted by their state. A council may have the votes for a new rule yet lack the legal authority to adopt it.

Who makes the rules and runs the services?

In a mayor-council government, the elected council makes local laws and the mayor heads the government, with substantial administrative authority. Under a council-manager system, elected leaders set policy and a professional administrator appointed by the council or board runs daily operations.

In a town-meeting system, qualified voters make basic policy, vote on the budget and choose a board. That board carries out the policies or delegates daily management to an appointed administrator.

A city’s charter, where it has one, sets out how its leaders are chosen and what they do. An ordinance is a local law adopted by the appropriate governing body, such as a city council or county commission. The charter establishes the governing structure; ordinances supply particular local rules.

A request to change a policy belongs with the body that can adopt it; a question about carrying it out belongs with the official responsible for administration. Check the local structure before assuming that the mayor has the authority needed to resolve a complaint.

A community can be served by several governments

Municipal governments, including cities and villages, provide general government for a defined area. County governments also provide general government under state authority; the Census Bureau includes Louisiana parishes and Alaska boroughs in that category.

A special district is organized for one or a limited number of designated functions, rather than general government. To count as a separate government in Census statistics, it must have enough administrative and financial independence. These entities may be called districts, authorities, boards or commissions.

School districts can also be independent governments. The Census Bureau separates those from school systems run by a county, municipality, township or state. A school’s location inside a city therefore does not, by itself, show that city hall controls it.

Start a service inquiry by identifying the government responsible, rather than assuming every local service answers to the same council. For a district, check both its assigned function and who governs it; a body responsible for one service may have no authority over the wider issue that prompted the complaint.

The budget sets choices that administrators carry out

Making policy, approving spending and managing employees are related but distinct responsibilities. For example, in Washington cities covered by the state’s council-manager law, the manager supervises administration and prepares a proposed budget. The manager must also keep the council informed about the city’s finances and future needs.

Under that code’s budget rules, the legislative body can make adjustments and adopts the final budget by ordinance after a hearing. The manager then administers the adopted budget. A request for more service funding may therefore need a council budget decision, while a complaint about how the existing service operates may call for an administrative change by the manager.

The Washington manager also appoints and removes staff, subject to civil-service rules and specified appointment exceptions. The council can separately order an audit of a department or office and select who performs it without the manager’s consent. Council oversight does not mean that each council member personally supervises the employees carrying out the work.

For a proposed service expansion, ask what the current budget permits, what change is being requested and which body can approve it.

Where local powers come from

Municipalities are created by states to exercise powers the states give them. State constitutions and laws determine how much room local officials have to act. Federal constitutional rights still apply: a state cannot use its control over municipal boundaries to deprive residents of the right to vote because of their race.

Under Dillon’s Rule, a local government has powers expressly granted by the state, powers necessarily or fairly implied by those grants, and powers essential and indispensable to its purposes. Those powers are interpreted narrowly, with doubt resolved against the locality.

This does not require a separate act of the legislature for every local decision. Virginia law, for example, already authorizes local zoning ordinances governing land uses and building dimensions. Local officials can write particular zoning rules within that grant.

Home rule gives local governments a degree of independence over local matters, generally through a state constitution or statute. A broad governing power does not necessarily include every power to raise money. Florida’s constitution, for example, gives municipalities broad powers for local purposes while making their taxing powers depend on authorization by law.

When a state rule overrides a local one

State preemption occurs when a state rule overrides local regulation. The state may explicitly prohibit a local rule, reserve a subject for state regulation, or adopt a conflicting rule. Whether the local measure must give way depends on the state’s constitution, home-rule provisions, statutes and court decisions.

A local government can have authority over a subject and still face a valid state restriction on how it uses that authority. That is different from never having received the power at all.

Cleveland challenged a statewide firearms law after adopting its own firearms rules. In 2010, the Ohio Supreme Court held that the state law displaced municipal firearms ordinances without violating municipal home-rule authority.

The state law had to meet Ohio’s test for a general law, including uniform statewide operation and rules governing citizens’ conduct, rather than merely limiting municipal lawmaking. State action alone was not enough to decide the case; the law had to satisfy the state’s constitutional standard.

Local authority varies within states, too

The same state can give different powers to different kinds of local government.

In Illinois, municipalities with more than 25,000 residents qualify for home rule, as do counties with a chief executive elected by county voters. Other municipalities can choose home rule by referendum. A referendum puts the question to voters. Home-rule units can also give up that status by referendum. Check the locality’s current home-rule status before relying on those powers.

California distinguishes charter cities from general-law cities, whose powers come from state statutes. For a charter city, the subject of a proposed law matters: is it a municipal affair or a statewide concern? The existence of a state law does not establish that it overrides every charter-city rule on the same subject.

Why local control and statewide rules compete

The National League of Cities is an organization of city, town and village leaders that advocates for those governments. It argues that communities need room to solve local problems, experiment and hold local officials accountable, and that restrictions on revenue and regulation can leave cities unable to meet local demands.

Its home-rule principles call for broad local governing powers and authority to raise revenue, subject to state oversight. They also call for strong reasons before states displace local choices. The Florida and Illinois tax limits illustrate the constraint behind that argument: local governing responsibility can coexist with restrictions on how to fund it.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, describes itself as a state-legislator membership organization dedicated to limited government, free markets and federalism. It argues that common tax and licensing rules reduce the burden of differing local requirements on businesses and prevent local policies from harming neighboring jurisdictions.

ALEC’s employment proposal would prohibit local wage requirements above the state or applicable federal minimum, preserving the state rate when it is higher. These are proposals for allocating authority, not rules that automatically apply nationwide.

A 2003 Brookings study examined home rule and growth management. Growth management means policies guiding the kind, scale, location and timing of development. The study identified strong programs in Maryland, Washington and Wisconsin despite their use of Dillon’s Rule, and a strong state-mandated program in Oregon despite its home-rule tradition.

The study also warned that local autonomy could complicate regional cooperation when local governments lacked the geographic reach to address growth effectively. For a development dispute, that raises a practical question: does the local government have both the legal tools and the geographic reach to address it?

Congress retains authority over Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., has an elected mayor and council. Congress retains authority to legislate for the District on any subject, including amending or repealing Council acts. Ordinary Council acts generally also undergo congressional review before taking effect, with exceptions including emergency acts. Here the outside legislature is Congress, rather than a state legislature.

How to make a request that can lead to action

Start with the responsible government’s charter, if it has one, and its official code of local laws. Check its website or ask the clerk’s office where to find the documents that establish its structure and local laws. Identify the body that can adopt the rule and the official who carries it out.

Before attending a meeting, check how to submit a comment and whether the proposal is ready for a decision. Washington law, for example, requires an opportunity for public comment at or before regular meetings where final action is taken, except in emergencies. That opportunity may be oral comment or written testimony; the governing body can set a reasonable deadline for written submissions.

The Washington law permits limits on the time and manner of comment to preserve orderly meetings. It also requires requested remote oral participation when feasible for people who have difficulty attending, if oral public comment is being accepted. Check the particular meeting’s instructions rather than assuming an open meeting provides unlimited speaking time or a guaranteed remote option.

In Washington cities covered by the budget law described above, any taxpayer may speak for or against any part of the budget at the final budget hearing. A specific budget request can identify the proposed service, the funding change and the decision being sought, giving the council something concrete to consider before adoption.

Ask officials for the provision that gives the local government its power, along with any state provision that limits it. Name the actual proposal, such as a zoning change, tax or wage requirement. A home-rule label alone will not answer whether the community can take that action.

A charter change can involve a direct vote by residents, rather than only a vote by the council. In Ohio, a two-thirds vote of the local legislative body can send a charter amendment to voters; a petition signed by 10 percent of the municipality’s voters requires submission. Approval requires a majority of those voting on the amendment.

If the proposal fits within existing local authority, take it to the council or other responsible governing body. If a valid state restriction blocks it, a change in state law may be needed; that request belongs with state legislators. For a change to the charter itself, check the state and local procedures for proposing and approving an amendment.

Bring the local rule and the cited state provision to a qualified professional if the answer affects a particular legal dispute.