Mayor–council government
Form of city government
Part of the Politics series |
Common forms of local government |
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Executive and legislature
separate
Mayor - Council
Executive
mayor
elected by the people, elected legislative
City council
Executive city manager hired by the elected City Council |
Executive and legislature
fused
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Leader and cabinet
Executive leader elected by the council from among themselves
Elected mayor and cabinet
Committee system
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The mayor–council government system is a system of local government that has a mayor who is directly elected by the voters serve as chief executive, and a separately elected legislative city council . It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States , and is also used in Brazil , [1] Canada , Italy , Israel , New Zealand , Poland , and Turkey . [ citation needed ] It is the one most frequently adopted in large cities, although the other form, council–manager government , is the local government form of more municipalities.
The form may be categorized into two main variations depending on the relative power of the mayor compared to the council. In a typical strong-mayor system, the elected mayor is granted almost total administrative authority with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads. In such a system, the mayor's administrative staff prepares the city budget, although that budget usually must be approved by the council. [2]
Conversely, in a weak-mayor system, the mayor has no formal authority outside the council, serving a largely ceremonial role as council chairperson. The mayor cannot directly appoint or remove officials, and lacks veto power over council votes. [3]
Most major American cities use the strong-mayor form of the mayor–council system, whereas middle-sized and small American cities tend to use the council–manager system. [4]
See also
References
- ↑ According to the Chapter IV of Brazilian Constitution of 1988 .
- ↑ Kathy Hayes; Semoon Chang (July 1990). "The Relative Efficiency of City Manager and Mayor–Council Forms of Government". Southern Economic Journal . 57 (1): 167–177. doi : 10.2307/1060487 . JSTOR 1060487 .
- ↑ Saffell, Dave C.; Harry Basehart (2009). State and Local Government: Politics and Public Policies (9th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-07-352632-4 .
- ↑ George C. Edwards III; Robert L. Lineberry; Martin P. Wattenberg (2006). Government in America . Pearson Education. pp. 677–678. ISBN 0-321-29236-7 .