counties, special districts, municipalities

1. Local Governments
What are the types of local oe sub-state governments?
What is their legal status?
What do they do?

2. Types of Local Governments
Counties
• 254 Counties in Texas
• “Creatures of the State”
• Governance: Commissioner’s
Court
Municipalities
• General Law Municipalities
• Largely “creatures of the
state”
• Home Rule Municipalities
• Requires population above
5000
• Greater autonomy from state
• Write own charter
• Choose types of government
• Subject to “preemption”
Special Districts
• Independent School Districts
• Most numerous type
• Home rule available
• No district achieved home rule
• Hospital Districts
• Water/wastewater
• Environmental

3. 254 County Governments
• The major responsibilities include:
• Providing public safety and justice
• Holding elections at every level of government
• Redrawing voting precinct boundaries
• Maintaining Texans’ most important records
• Building and maintaining roads, bridges and in some cases, county airports
• Providing emergency management services
• Providing health and safety services
• Collecting property taxes for the county and sometimes for other taxing entities
• Issuing vehicle registration and transfers
• Registering voters.

4. Origins
The Republic
shall be divided
into convenient
counties…”
Art. IV, Constitution of the Republic
of Texas

5. Original Purpose: Law & Order
• Counties are political subdivisions of the state.
• Counties are extensions of state government at the local level.
• Counties are “instrumentalities of the state” as opposed to
municipalities.

6. Governing Counties
• Each county is governed by a commissioner’s court.
• The Constitutional County Court judge heads the court.
• The Constitutional County Court judge is elected by a countywide vote.
• Each County is divided into 4 Commissioner’s Court Districts
• Commissioners are elected from single member districts.

7. Commissioner’s Court
• Responsible for budget and tax rate.
• Approves all budgeted purchases.
• Sets all salaries and benefits.
• Exclusive authority to approve contracts.
• Provides & maintains all buildings.
• Fill vacancies in most other offices.

8. 5 Member Commissioner’s Court
County Judge
• Presiding officer of Commissioners Court.
• Represents county in administrative
functions.
• Serves as budget officer in most counties.
• Head of emergency management.
• Broad judicial duties in criminal & civil cases.
County Commissioners
• Represents one of four precincts.
• Single Member Districes with equal population
• Has broad policy-making authority as
member of Commissioners Court.
• Typically responsible for building and
maintaining roads and bridges and other
county facilities within precinct.

9. Tarrant County Commissioners Court
Constitutional County Judge
Glen B. Whitley (R)
You will see his
actions related to
COVID 19 crisis.
Precinct 1 Precinct 2
Precinct 3 Precinct 4
1 Roy Charles Brooks (D)
2 Devan Allen (D)
3 Gary Fikes (R)
4 J.D. Johnson (R)

10. Tarrant County Commissioners Court
• The four County Commissioners have both countywide and precinct
responsibilities.
• Each commissioner is responsible for construction and maintenance of
County roads within his or her precinct.
• Commissioners maintain offices both at the Administration Building
and within their precincts. They are responsive to the particular
needs of people living within their areas of the County.
• In Tarrant County, each member of Commissioners Court serves as a
liaison to a particular board or agency of the County such as the
Hospital District.

11. All 254 County Commissioners Court
Commissioners Court is not a judicial court but is the general governing body of the County.
Among the major duties of the Court, the Court is to:
• Set the tax rate and adopt the County budget;
• Appoint County officials and hire personnel;
• Fill elective and appointive vacancies;
• Establish voting precincts, appoint precinct judges and call County bond elections;
• Let contracts and authorize payment of all County bills;
• Build and maintain County roads and bridges;
• Build, maintain and improve County facilities, including jails;
• Provide for hospitals, public welfare and veterans assistance;
• Manage all County facilities;
• Provide for the data service and archival needs of the County;
• Appoint an Administrator to oversee the operations of those departments reporting to the Court.

12. Other County Officials
• Tax Assessor-Collector
• County Clerk
• District Clerk
• Tax Assessor-Collector
• County Treasurer
• Sheriff
• Justice of the Peace
• Constable
• County Attorney
• District Attorney
• County Auditor

13. Two theories of local authority in the U.S.
Dillon’s Rule
• Originated in the Iowa Supreme
Court and Justice John Dillon
• In City of Clinton v. Cedar Rapids
and the Missouri River Rail Road
Company (1868)
• Dillon regarded local governments
as political subdivisions of the
state rather than as equal or
separate from state government
Home Rule (Cooley Doctrine)
• In 1871, Judge Thomas Cooley of
the Michigan Supreme challenged
the Dillon Rule
• He argued that local governments
possess some inherent rights.
• Local government is a matter of
absolute right; and the state
cannot take it away.”

14. SCOTUS adopts Dillon’s Rule but lower federal courts
and some states have other ideas
Dillon’s Rule
• United States Supreme Court in
Hunter v. Pittsburgh, 207 U.S.
161, (1907)
• Municipal corporations owe their
origin to, and derive their powers
and rights wholly from, the
legislature. It breathes into them
the breath of life, without which
it cannot exist.
Home Rule
• 44 states have adopted Home
Rule charters in some capacity.
• Texas allows municipalities with
populations greater than 5000 to
adopt home rule.
• Smaller Texas municipalities exist
as general law entities under
Dillon’s Rule

15. Hunter and its problems
US Circuit Courts have varied
interpretations
• Some view state grants of power
to municipalities as unilateral and
revocable
• Some view the grants as contracts
with rights on both sides
• Hunter is a definition that
appears universal but in practice
is more nuanced
Private corporations ruled “persons”
under 14th Amendments but not public
corporations have not
• Municipalities are public
corporations
• They have governing functions
and proprietary functions
• Proprietary functions include
water systems, sewer systems,
utilities, etc.

16. The legal status of municipalities is a
political question of great importance today.
• Preemption is the use of state law to nullify a municipal ordinance or
authority by statute or constitutional amendment
• Preemption is on the rise (ALEC and American City County Exchange)
• Minimum Wage and Paid Leave
• Non-discrimination (bathroom bills, sanctuary cities)
• Sharing economy (ride sharing, home sharing, emerging platforms)
• Municipal broadband
• Tax and expenditure limits
• Other (fracking bans, plastic bottles, nutrition, firearms, rent control,
inclusionary zoning

17. How do local governments operate in Texas
• Most municipalities are general law cities (Dillon’s Rule)
• Aldermanic or commission form of local government
• Board of aldermen (mayor and 5 aldermen elected at large)
• Board of Commissioners (mayor and 2 commissioners elected at large)
• May hire city manager
• Municipalities with population greater than 5000 can implement
home rule (Cooley’s Doctrine)
• In Texas, home rule municipalities choose type of government
• 2 general forms are now used: mayor council and council manager
• Election types include at large, single member districts, place systems

18. Mayor Council
Strong mayor type [Houston is example]
• Mayor directly elected
• Mayor has independent power
to appoint and remove
officials
• Mayor has veto power over
council ordinances
• Council does not oversee day
to day operations
Weak mayor type
• Mayor elected from the council
by the council
• Council has legislative and
executive power
• Mayor: no independency power
to appoint or remove
• Mayor: no veto power
In practice, there is no sharp category that distinguishes between
"weak" and "strong" mayors, but rather a continuum of authority and
power along which cities are spread. However, the designation of
"weak" and "strong" are useful in showing the variations in mayoral
authority that exist.

19. Council Manager
• The distinguishing feature of this government type is that
a professional city manager is hired to handle the day to
day affairs of the municipality
• Council manager is emerging as the dominant form of
government among home rule municipalities in Texas
• The administrative role of the mayor may be reduced and
the power of the mayor may be weakened

20. Pasadena TX city council districts shift held to be intentionally discriminatory
8 single member district plan from 2011 6 single member districts 2 at large from
2013

21. Pasadena as an example of preclearance
• Pasadena drew 8 single member district plan under preclearance required by
Section 5 of Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended
• SCOTUS rejected formulas for deciding which jurisdictions must seek
preclearance in Selby County v Holder which release all jurisdictions
• Pasadena drew new plan with 6 single member districts and 2 at large districts
• Alberto Patino sued Pasadena under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in US
District Court for Southern District and won
• Chief Judge Lee H Rosenthall ruled intentional discrimination
• Ordered Pasadena to revert to the 8 single member district plan
• Placed Pasadena back under preclearance requirement for future changes in election law
• Pasadena decided not to pursue an appeal

22. Hispanics Power in Local Government
• INTERACTIVE by Austin American Statesmen
• Control click on above link.