ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how Texas organizes and empowers its county and municipal governments. It examines that while the structure and powers of county governments are explicitly defined in the Texas Constitution, municipalities, depending upon their size, have some flexibility in choosing their form of government. The chapter describes the special district governments that operate in Texas and ask what reforms might make Texas local governments more effective and responsive. The Texas Constitution gives the state the power to create, revise, and reform its county and municipal governments. In early Texas, county governments brought state law and services to a widely scattered rural population. Today, each Texas County is governed by a commissioner's court made up of a county judge and four county commissioners. The county judge is elected on a partisan ballot, to a four-year term, by the eligible voters of the county.
