Local government in Pennsylvania facts for kids

Local government in Pennsylvania is government below the state level in Pennsylvania. There are six types of local governments listed in the Pennsylvania Constitution: county, township, borough, town, city, and school district. All of Pennsylvania is included in one of the state's 67 counties, which are in total subdivided into 2,561 municipalities. There are currently no independent cities or unincorporated territories within Pennsylvania.

County

Counties in Pennsylvania serve the traditional roles for state including law enforcement, judicial administration, and election conduct. Some of the other functions that Pennsylvania's counties may perform include public health, property assessment, and redevelopment. Some of the welfare functions often performed by counties include mental health, geriatric care, community colleges, and library support.

Pennsylvania is divided into 67 counties. Most counties are governed by a board of commissioners, consisting of three members. Two must be of the majority party, and the third must be of the minority party, which is determined by which candidates receive the most votes, as two candidates from each party are on the November ballot. One of the members serves as the chair. The board of commissioners typically serves as both the legislative and executive body. In addition to the elected commissioners, most counties elect other officials, commonly called "row officers," independent of the board of commissioners. The offices include sheriff, district attorney, prothonotary, clerk of courts, register of wills, clerk of the orphans' court, recorder of deeds, treasurer, controller, auditors, and jury commissioners.

Seven counties currently have home rule charters: Allegheny, Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, and Northampton. Philadelphia is a consolidated city-county with all of its county functions being administered by the city government. Those counties have the types of officials elected determined by the home rule charter, and they often differ from the officials elected in most counties.

Counties are further classified by population. Each classification has its own code, set up by the General Assembly, to administer county functions. The classification of counties is as follows:

(*): A county of the third class that is determined to have a population of 500,000 or more may elect to continue to be a county of the third class.

(~): A county having a population between 35,000 and 44,999 may elect to be a county of the sixth class.

(+): A county's population must be under the minimum for a class for two (2) censuses prior to a reduction in class.

Municipalities

Keeping in mind Pennsylvania Geography and Pennsylvania Geology presents many state landscapes that are dominated by hills, streams, deep valleys, and mountain ridges, the list of municipalities of Pennsylvania range from higher numbers of entities with small populations in sparsely populated large regions, to those large in population, with less relative territory having denser populations, Pennsylvania's municipal classes are: Townships (hamlets and villages), Boros or Borough (Towns), and Cities. Most such subdivisions are entirely contained within a County of Pennsylvania. Some, like Bethlehem City, cross county lines. It is not unusual for a borough to be adjacent to, and sometimes nearly surrounded by a township of the same name.

Below the county level of organized services, everyone in Pennsylvania lives under the jurisdiction of at least two types of municipal governments. The first type of municipal government will provide police and fire protection, maintenance of local roads and streets, water supply, sewage collection and treatment, parking and traffic control, local planning and zoning, parks and recreation, garbage collection, health services, libraries, licensing of businesses, and code enforcement. The second type will administer the local schools, claim a separate portion of taxes and are called school districts. Organized along practical geographic lines, an occasional Area school district will cross county boundaries, though most are located within county regions providing community ties across multiple municipalities. The sense of belonging to a community in Pennsylvania is often tied to area High School sports teams.

Due to historic legalisms, Bloomsburg, is the only officially designated & incorporated 'town' in Pennsylvania but is nonetheless administered by the borough code and is classified (for legal purposes) as such boros by the state. The mostly uninhabited, township-sized area of the East Fork Road District was classified as a sui generis district, unlike any other in the state, until its 2004 dissolution.

Unincorporated communities

Unincorporated communities in the state of Pennsylvania are well-defined communities that are part of one or more incorporated municipalities but are not independent municipalities in their own right. They have no elected form government and have no authority granted to them by the state or county, but have a historical authority all their own. Often they are little more than neighborhoods once serviced by a railway station, that once had a post office in the 19th century, or were clustered as supporting community housing for a local industry, which may no longer exist. Many unincorporated communities though, often overshadow the true municipal government. King of Prussia is an example of an unincorporated community that tends to be better known than Upper Merion, the municipality King of Prussia actually resides in.

These communities can be small, cross-roads type areas with a few homes and businesses or they can be large business complexes with relatively few residents but a strong commercial center. They can also be simply recognized for prior historical relevance which carries on as they are referenced by new generations.

Hamlets and Villages

Villages in Pennsylvania are often small communities within a township that chose not to incorporate into a borough. Many villages are identified by the familiar PennDot sign along a state highway. Lahaska is an example of typical village in suburban Pennsylvania.

Census-designated place

These are areas recognized by the United States Census Bureau for enumeration purposes. Many Census-designated places are also names of villages or post offices that tie a community together. The steep forested landscape and terrains of Pennsylvania generally forced settlements into relatively small areas that had appropriate conditions making it easy to build. Modern heavy machinery has broadened the scope of where housing settlements and business can be situated, but at the cost of moving a lot of soils and rocks.

Township

Townships in Pennsylvania were the first form of land grants established by William Penn, and are generally large in area with a sparse population centered on one or a few clusters of homes and a handful of businesses. They have existed in one form or another since the Province of Pennsylvania was established. They were usually large tracts of land given to a person, a family, or a group of people by Penn or his heirs.

Townships can be of the first or second class, the difference being the powers and offices of the municipal government or its officials. All begin as second class townships, and when certain legal requirements are met, the township may become a first-class township by a referendum of the township's voters, provided it meets population threshold requirements. Many that qualify prefer to continue as second class townships (established by voter referendum).

Representation in a second-class township is by a board of supervisors elected at-large for 6 year terms. Representation in a first-class township is by a board of commissioners that can consist of anywhere from five commissioners elected at large to boards with 7-15 elected by wards to four-year terms; though via home rule petitions, some townships have also maintained at-large representation, or mixed geographical wards and at-large election organization. By law there are always an odd number of 'township commissioners'.

A second-class township usually has three supervisors, elected at large for six-year terms. A referendum may allow a second-class township's board of supervisors to expand to five members. Some townships have home-rule charters, which allow for a mayor/council form of government.

Borough

What outside Pennsylvania many would think are called 'Towns' are by law 'officially Boroughs' (often also spelled as 'boros') which are generally smaller than cities in terms of both geographic area and population. Most cities in Pennsylvania were once incorporated as a borough before becoming a city; and both began under the constitution as a township. Boroughs are not strictly classified by population and are administered through the borough legal code. Each borough elects a weak mayor and a council of three, five, seven, or nine members with broad powers, as determined by home rule measures. The borough offices of 'tax assessor', 'tax collector', and 'auditors' are elected independently. The borough council can also hire a borough manager (town manager) to enforce ordinances and carry out the day-to-day business of the town x administration and dictates of its council. Nineteen boroughs have also adopted home rule charters.

Boroughs generally incorporate from areas of dense populations in a township. The areas generally had a train station and were centers of businesses and industrial activities. The first borough to be incorporated in Pennsylvania was Germantown in 1690. That borough ceased to exist when all of Philadelphia's municipalities were consolidated in 1854. The borough of Chester Heights has a unique distinction of incorporating into a borough out of Aston Township by a tax revolt.

City

There are a total of 56 incorporated cities in Pennsylvania, the smallest being Parker, Armstrong County, with a population of 840 (2010 census). Each is further classified according to population. There is one first class city, Philadelphia, which has more than 1 million residents.

Second class cities

There is also only one second class city which has a population between 250,000 and 1 million automatically placing it under the second class laws, Pittsburgh. A city with between 80,000 and 250,000 inhabitants that has also adopted a certain ordinance can be classified as a second class city — only Scranton has done so; making two in that classification.

Finally, any municipality adopting conversion into a city government with a population below 250,000 people that has not adopted the second class ordinance is a third class city. First and second class cities have a strong mayor and home rule charters; their charters are in effect a bargain with the state as to which power the city takes on itself. These sometimes include county functions. The mayor has broad power to appoint and remove certain commissioners and department heads. Most of the city's functions are independent of the state's control because of their charters, which must pass legislative approval.

Third class cities

Third class cities can be governed three ways.

The third class city codes establishes a commission form of government; the mayor and four other members constitute the commission, the governing body of the city. The mayor is one of the members of council and acts as president. Each council member is in charge of one of the five major departments. The city controller and treasurer are elected independently. Twenty cities employ this form of governance.

The mayor-council form has a council of five, seven, or nine members, elected at large for overlapping four-year terms. A mayor, treasurer, and a controller also are elected for a four-year period. The mayor is the chief executive of the city and enforces the ordinances of council. The mayor may veto ordinances, but that can be overridden by at least two thirds of the council. The mayor supervises the work of all city departments and submits the annual city budget to council. This form was adopted by nine cities by referenda.

The last is the council-manager form, in which all authority is lodged with council which is composed of five, seven, or nine members elected at-large for a four-year term. A city treasurer and controller also are elected. A city manager is appointed by council. The manager is the chief administrative officer of the city and is responsible for executing the ordinances of council. The manager appoints and may remove department heads and subordinates. Only four cities use this method of city organization.

Sixteen third class cities have adopted home rule charters. Two cities (DuBois and Altoona) have an optional council-manager plan, and one city (Hazleton) has a mayor-council optional plan.

Municipal authorities

Municipal authorities are a special kind of local unit: unlike cities, boroughs, and townships, which are general government entities, they are set up to perform special services. An authority is a body corporate and politic authorized to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, and operate projects, and to borrow money and issue bonds to finance them. Projects include public facilities such as buildings, including school buildings, transportation facilities, marketing and shopping facilities, highways, parkways, airports, parking places, waterworks, sewage treatment plants, playgrounds, hospitals, and industrial development projects.

An authority can be organized by any county, city, town, borough, township, or school district of the Commonwealth, acting singly or jointly with another municipality. An authority is established by ordinance by one or more municipalities. The governing bodies of the parent local unit or units appoint the members of the authority's board. If the body created by one unit, the board consists of five members. If the body created by two or more local units, there is at least one member from each unit but no fewer than five. The board carries on the work of the authority, acquires property, appoints officers and employees, undertakes projects, makes regulations and charges, and collects revenue from services of the facilities or projects.