ABSTRACT
The US Census defines special districts as "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". Special district governments can easily be confused with other entities, such as public authorities and school districts. Public authorities are generally larger, regionwide institutions established by state law. Dependent districts are governed by other legislative bodies, usually a city council or a county legislative board. Sometimes a combination of local governments help make up the board of a dependent special district. The emergence of special districts has been accompanied by new terminology, since special district governments differ considerably in origin, structure, fiscal arrangements, and responsibilities. The classic rationale for the use of special districts is to overcome geographic limitations of existing units of government. Contemporary theorists of public administration place great emphasis on the significance of the environment of public organizations.
