ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at each type of local government in more detail and assesses the distribution of functions across those governments. The American system of local government features many governments. There are three primary forms of local government. The first is the county. The second is the municipality. There are two primary types of municipality—the township and the city. The third form of local government is the special district. A particular variant of a special district, the school district, sometimes looks more like a municipality than a special district, and therefore will be treated separately. There are two broad types of special districts. The first is generally designed to have a service territory approximately coterminous with a particular city or town government or a part of that single jurisdiction. The second type of special district reflects a more regionalized perspective.
