American Government
Chapter 25
Section 1
Counties, Towns, and
Townships
The Counties
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Stats – county size
EXTREMES
San Bernardino County, CA
 20,064 square miles
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Kalawao County, Hawaii
 13 square miles
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Stats – population
Los Angeles County, CA
 9 million people
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Loving County, Texas
 150 people
Powers of Typical County Govt.
Executive Power
Levy taxes
Appropriate funds
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Legislative Power
Supervising road programs
Managing county property
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Elected County Officials
Titles & Job Description
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Sherriff
Keeps jail and furnishes police protection
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Clerk
Registers and records documents, mortgages
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Assessor
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Treasurer
Appraises property
Keeps county funds
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Keeps financial records
Auditor
Titles & Jobs Cont.
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District Attorney
Chief lawyer for the county
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Coroner
Investigates deaths
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About 2 million people throughout
the U.S. work in county government
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Functions performed by county
governments
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
keep peace
collect taxes
spend funds
build/repair roads & bridges
maintain schools
record deeds
licenses
etc.
Towns
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New England towns
They have been the major unit of
local government for hundreds of
years; its meetings are examples of
direct democracy
Townships
Differences
In NY, NJ, PA: townships where
formed where people settled, so they
are not uniform in shape
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From Ohio westward; townships are
uniform in shape because they were
drawn in federal public land surveys
Townships cont.
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States are divided into townships
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How big is a township?
36 square miles (6 miles square)
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Each township is divided into sections
which are each 1 mile square
Sections can be divided into smaller lots
(Half Section-320 acres, Quarter Sections160 acres, Half Quarters-80 acres)
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Special Districts
Jobs of Special Districts
1. provide water, sewage and
electrical service
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2. furnish fire and police protection
3. build and maintain libraries, parks,
schools etc.
Terms
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Borough
- the main unit of local government in Alaska
County
- the main unit of local government in most of the U.S.
Special District
- an independent unit of local government
Parish
- the main unit of local government in Louisiana
Townships
- Mainly in the Midwest – counties are divided into subunits that
share the duties of local government