MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. The administration of the affairs of a city, town, borough, village, or other minor civil division of a State, but generally restricted to the government of pure municipal corporations as opposed to quasi municipal corporations, such as counties, townships, and school districts. Municipal government seldom reaches its fullest development outside of the larger cities, but numerous municipal activities are often undertaken in progressive urban communities of only a few thousand inhabitants. Since the municipality is the creature of the State, it follows that its form of government, its various activities, and its powers are not only derived from the State, but are also subject to alteration or repeal at its will. The municipality has a direct and far more intimate relation with those subject to its government than does the State, supplying many wants common to its inhabitants, and performing or supervising the performance of many services which outside of the municipality are left to private enterprise.
In some of these respects, as in the exercise of the police power, the care of the public health, the administration of charity, and the administration of local justice, the municipality is actually the agent of the State, and discharges duties of interest to the State at large; in others, as in the furnishing of water or light, the State permits the community as a whole to act as a local organization for the satisfaction of purely local needs of interest to the community only. The very remarkable growth of the urban population during the last half century has greatly increased the importance of municipal government, and at the same time multiplied its difficulties. About three-fourths of the population of England and Scotland now live under conditions of urban life, while in the older parts of the United States the town dwellers outnumber the country dwellers. For the origin and nature of the legal powers of municipalities, see Municipality; see also the general article Government. For the history, growth in population, and certain economic, social, and political phases, see City.
Municipal government may be considered under four main heads: (1) Functions; (2) organization; (3) finance; (4) public policy.
Municipal Functions. The functions of a municipality include all the public activities of the city, whether direct, such as laying out and maintaining streets, or indirect, such as regulating traffic and maintaining order on the public thoroughfares. These activities are many and complex, and frequently overlap, but they may be grouped as follows: (1) The so-called public utilities, which include ways and means of communication and transportation, together with the supply of light and water to the inhabitants; (2) disposal of wastes; (3) protection of life, health, and property; (4) charities and correction; (5) education; (6) recreation; (7) municipal housing. The provision of ways and means of communication and transportation is one of the first and most obvious functions of municipal government. Its basis is the public streets, upon the surface of which all land traffic moves, beneath which are placed pipes to bring in municipal supplies and to carry out wastes, and either above or below which are wires for transmitting messages. As an aid to the movement of street traffic, it falls within the duties of the municipal government either to provide street railways or to see that they are provided and properly operated by private enterprise. In many of the English and Scotch cities the street railways have been constructed and are owned by the municipality itself, although it is a common practice to lease them to a private company for operation. In the United States this is usually a function of private enterprise, subject to the supervision of the city. Where waterways are involved, bridges and perhaps ferries must be provided, and frequently docks, wharves, and harbors as well. Bridges are now almost always built at public expense, and are as free to all as the streets, but sometimes bridges are owned by private companies, and sometimes, but rarely in large municipalities, toll is charged for the use of the bridges. The construction and control of harbors is not a municipal function in the United States, and in other countries their care is generally a function of the national government. Municipal docks are far more common than municipal harbors. Where docks are required, they often are or may be an important source of revenue; but the first consideration should be to afford every facility for the speedy and cheap handling of goods and passengers. The relation of municipal government to the telephone and telegraph service is chiefly regulative, especially in the United States, and thus far extends but little beyond the police control of the electric wires involved.
One of the most important municipal services is the supply of water for household and industrial purposes, for fire protection, and for sewer and street flushing. The lighting service, like the water supply, is both for public and private use. The light furnished may be either in the form of gas or electricity. Almost everywhere at present the water and lighting supplies are municipal functions, although they may be intrusted to private companies. Municipal markets for the sale of meat and other food supplies are frequently maintained for the sake of both convenience and sanitation. The sanitary aspects of cattle markets, abattoirs, and slaughter houses are of great importance. Consequently, where markets are not provided, the municipal health authorities exercise, or should exercise, a rigid supervision over private markets, and also over the various foods prepared or exposed for sale therein. The supply of such articles as milk and ice to the inhabitants is left to private enterprise, but on sanitary grounds is usually subject to regulation by the municipal government.
Wastes. By far the greater part of the large quantity of water supplied to the modern municipality must be removed again in a more or less befouled condition. All American, many British, and the largest Continental cities have found water to be the best vehicle for removing excreta, and as a result we have the modern sewerage system, which carries away this dangerous waste together with the water otherwise befouled by domestic use. The surface drainage from roofs, yards, and streets may be removed with the sewage, or else in separate conduits. The food wastes of the kitchen and table, consisting of decomposable organic matter, and commonly known as garbage, require separate disposal; and the same is
