Statutes creating special districts may state that the district is a municipality, municipal corporation, quasi municipal corporation, public corporation, public body corporate and politic, or some other designation. Many of these terms are not defined by statute.
The "classifications" are not consistent and may have little difference in meaning. The "classifications" include:. Four definitions for the term "special district" have been noted and three for the term "special purpose district. The Census Bureau defines special district governments as: "All organized local entities other than counties, municipalities, townships, or school districts authorized by state law to provide only one or a limited number of designated functions, and with sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate governments; known by a variety of titles, including districts, authorities, boards, and commissions.
To determine how many special districts have sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate governments, each statute creating a special purpose district needs to be examined.
In Washington, some districts have autonomous governing boards, but their funding may depend on approval by the legislative body that created the district. For others, members of the legislative body convene as the ex officio governing board of the special district. The statutes often contain a clause that the county commissioners or city or town council acts in an ex officio capacity.
Legislation is passed in the name of the district; and resolutions and ordinances are retained separate from the legislative body of the county, city or town. Most of the Washington statutes creating the special district state that the district is a municipal corporation or a quasi municipal corporation.
The enabling statute generally contains clauses that establish that the district is an independent taxing "authority" within the meaning of Article VII, section 1 of the state Constitution, and a "taxing district" within the meaning of Article VII, section 2 of the state Constitution; and that the district is a body corporate and possesses all the usual powers of a corporation for public purposes, as well as all other powers that may now, or hereafter, be specifically conferred by statute, including, but not limited to, the authority to hire employees, staff, and services, to enter into contracts, and to sue and be sued.
Both of these totals include the federal share of Medicaid spending. Highway and road spending was 6 percent of state and local direct general expenditures in Looking at criminal justice expenditures individually, police spending was 4 percent of state and local direct general expenditures, corrections spending was 3 percent, and court spending was 2 percent.
Housing and community development expenditures accounted for another 2 percent of state and local direct general expenditures. Most of the remaining 22 percent of state and local direct expenditures in went toward these programs:. States and local governments provide different mixes of services, which are reflected in their direct general expenditures.
Local governments directly spent far more on elementary and secondary education than states in 40 percent of direct local government spending went to K education versus less than 1 percent of direct state spending. However, while local governments overwhelmingly spent these dollars, much of that money came from state and federal funds.
Meanwhile, states spent a higher percentage of their direct expenditures on higher education 17 percent than local governments 3 percent in Similarly, states also directly spent a far higher percentage of their budgets on public welfare expenditures than local governments. In , 44 percent of states' direct general expenditures went toward public welfare, the largest direct expenditure at the state level.
Local governments spent only 4 percent on public welfare. Much of public welfare spending is Medicaid spending, which is jointly funded by states and the federal government but administered by state governments and local governments in a few states.
Local governments spent a larger share of their budgets on police 6 percent than state governments 1 percent , while spending on health and hospitals 9 percent of state budgets and 10 percent of local budgets and highways and roads 7 percent of state budgets and 4 percent of local budgets were roughly equal at the two levels of government.
How have state and local expenditures changed over time? Although spending in all major categories increased over the period, the percentage change in state and local direct general expenditures has varied. For example, state and local government spending on public welfare, in inflation-adjusted dollars, increased by percent between and , by far the most of any major expenditure.
New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania townships, for example, enjoy broad authority and perform functions similar to municipalities. Some New England townships govern schools, and Midwestern townships typically perform limited government functions. Special purpose local governments include special districts such as water and sewer districts and school districts. Special districts, as defined by the U.
Their functions range from street lighting to a large port authority with a large staff and project portfolio. All special districts are governed by a board, but their governance structures vary; some boards may be elected by the public while the majority are appointed by the states, counties, municipalities, or townships that have joined to form the special district.
Some local governments that cannot finance public improvements without increasing taxes will rely on special districts because special districts have several sources of revenue, and some have more than one source.
They may have the authority to levy property taxes, impose service charges, accept grants, share taxes with other areas, or rely on other special assessments or taxes. Because of this variability, the special districts may operate in very different intergovernmental political and fiscal frameworks. Also known as ad hoc governments because they are created to fill in the cracks of the existing government, special districts can overcome jurisdictional, legal, and financial inadequacies of existing governments.
For example, proximity to a watershed or river basin may better suggest the area of service than political boundary lines, necessitating a new service provider. Or existing city and county areas may be too small for effective management of certain functions. For all their benefits, special districts have occasionally been created to evade constitutional tax and debt limits on local governments. They also reduce the discretionary authority of local governments, fragment service provision, and may produce coordination problems.
Special districts also raise the issue of local government accountability, as the districts are governed by appointees, only a few of whom may be local elected officials. The public school systems in the United States are either defined as independent or dependent systems.
Independent school systems are also known as school districts , or local entities providing public school for which state law determines they have sufficient administration and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate or special purpose governments. These entities operate similar to a city in that they are accountable for the service they provide, and may exercise the powers of eminent domain and taxation, except in Virginia. More than 80 percent of these independent school systems are governed by a nonpartisan elected board called a school board , board of trustees , board of education , or school committee.
This governing body of 5 to 15 members is typically elected by direct popular vote but may be appointed by other governmental officials. While the board may share power with a larger institution, such as the local department of education, it is responsible for setting education policy and appointing a professional superintendent to manage school administration.
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