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Consolidated city-county

In United States local government, a consolidated city-county (also known as either a city-parish or a consolidated government in Louisiana, depending on the locality,[1] or a unified municipality, unified home rule borough, or city and borough[2][3] in Alaska) is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county (parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is a type of unitary authority that has the governmental powers of both a municipal corporation and a county.[4]

A consolidated city-county is different from an independent city, although the latter may result from consolidation of a city and a county and may also have the same powers as a consolidated city-county. An independent city is a city not deemed by its state to be located within the boundary of any county and considered a primary administrative division of its state.[5] A consolidated city-county differs from an independent city in that the city and county both nominally exist, although they have a consolidated government, whereas in an independent city, the county does not even nominally exist.[4] Furthermore, a consolidated city-county may still contain independent municipalities maintaining some governmental powers that did not merge with the rest of the county.[6]


Not considering Hawaii, which has no independent municipalities, the Midwest and Upper South have the highest concentration of large consolidated city-county governments in the United States, including Indianapolis, Indiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; Kansas City, Kansas; and Lexington, Kentucky. The largest consolidated city-county in the United States by population is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while the largest by land area is Sitka, Alaska.

Athens–Clarke County, Georgia

Augusta–Richmond County, Georgia

Butte–Silver Bow County, Montana

Indianapolis–Marion County, Indiana

Jacksonville–Duval County, Florida

Kansas City, Kansas–Wyandotte County, Kansas

Louisville–Jefferson County, Kentucky

Macon–Bibb County, Georgia

Nashville–Davidson County, Tennessee

In nine consolidated city-county governments in the United States, the formerly independent incorporated places maintain some governmental powers. In these cities, which the United States Census Bureau calls "consolidated cities", statistics are recorded both for the entire consolidated government and for the component municipalities. A part of the consolidated government is called the "balance", which the Census Bureau defines as "the consolidated city minus the semi-independent incorporated places located within the consolidated city".[6]


In Georgia, consolidations often required multiple attempts, changes in procedures, and different local laws in the state legislature. They often did not include some smaller jurisdictions. They also retained characteristics of both types of government, e.g, a sheriff as required by the Georgia Constitution. ][8]


These consolidated cities are:[6]

[9] (City and Borough are consolidated forming a unified government)

Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska

[10][11] (Town of Broomfield incorporated June 1, 1961. Consolidated City and County of Broomfield created November 15, 2001, from the incorporated City of Broomfield in portions of Boulder, Adams, Jefferson, and Weld Counties.)

City and County of Broomfield, Colorado

[10] (Denver City, Colorado Territory, incorporated November 7, 1861. Denver served as the Arapahoe County seat until November 15, 1902, when Arapahoe County was split into the new Adams County and the renamed South Arapahoe County. Denver was split from the two new counties on December 1, 1902.[12])

City and County of Denver, Colorado

[13][14]

City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii

City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska

a town coterminous with Menominee County, Wisconsin

Menominee, Wisconsin

Massachusetts (one and the same since it was separated from Dukes County, New York to join the colony of Massachusetts). In New England a town serves the same municipal functions as a city. Contrary to city–county consolidation, eight of Massachusetts' 14 county governments have been abolished.

Town and County of Nantucket

and Orleans Parish, Louisiana (The City of New Orleans has always served as Orleans Parish's government, though they initially were not coterminous. The city and parish have also annexed parts of neighboring Jefferson Parish.)

City of New Orleans

(The City of San Francisco was the seat of San Francisco County until 1856, when the county was split into the consolidated City and County of San Francisco in the north, with the remainder of old San Francisco County becoming the new County of San Mateo.)

City and County of San Francisco, California

City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska

City and Borough of Yakutat, Alaska

City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska

Municipality and Borough of Skagway, Alaska

split between three counties, explored the creation of a new consolidated city-county in 1996; the effort subsequently failed in a referendum. However, five years later nearby Broomfield was successful in creating a new city-county from portions of the four counties it had been a part of. Encouraged by Broomfield's experience, an Aurora city councilman again proposed consolidation in 2006.[31] This was not accomplished in 2006 or 2007, and no bills to accomplish consolidation were introduced in the 2008 session of the Colorado legislature.

Aurora, Colorado

A proposal was made to merge and Wyandotte County, Kansas and the cities located in those two into a single consolidated city-county, with the name to be determined.[32]

Johnson County, Kansas

In 2005, in Cleveland, Ohio published a series of articles exploring the possibility of the city's merging with Cuyahoga County.[33]

The Plain Dealer

operates under a federated two-tier government, where the county government operates as a superseding entity of county affairs and lower-tier incorporated municipalities operate civil and community services at the city level. However, the county provides city-level police, fire-rescue, sanitation, and other services under contract to many of the municipalities within its borders.

Miami-Dade County, Florida

The independent City of , Missouri and that of St. Louis County. The city of St. Louis seceded from St. Louis County in the 1870s and is not part of any county in the state of Missouri. Regional leaders have since proposed several plans to reunify the City and County, each one rejected by voters.[34]

St. Louis

The City of and Suffolk County, Massachusetts operated with a consolidated government for most of the twentieth century with Boston providing office space, auditors, budget, personnel and financial oversight for Suffolk County. This was not a true consolidation because three municipalities – Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop – were never annexed into Boston and remained separate jurisdictions within Suffolk County; however, the City of Boston held complete control of the county by law. The special relationship between Boston and Suffolk County ended in 1999 as part of the gradual abolition of county governments through much of the state with all county employees and powers transferred to Commonwealth of Massachusetts control. The only remaining powers and duties for the City of Boston in regards to the county is ceremonial in which the Suffolk County Register of Deeds is issued the oath of office at the start of a term as well as calls for a meeting to hold a special election to fill the office should there be a failure to elect someone to the office or should a vacancy occur.

Boston

From the 17th century to 1898, was coterminous with New York County and was often referred to as the "City and County of New York". Both were coterminous with Manhattan until 1874, when the City and County annexed parts of Westchester County that would later become the West Bronx, later annexing the remainder of the future Bronx. Upon consolidation in 1898, New York County was coterminous and consolidated with the boroughs of the Bronx and Manhattan, while the other boroughs were consolidated with their own respective counties. The Bronx was separated from New York County in 1914 to form its own Bronx County, and since then, each of the five boroughs of New York City is coterminous and consolidated with a county of New York state.

New York City

Comparative of all city/county consolidations and the issues and advantages each model presents (from the Pittsburgh/Allegheny task force on consolidation)