Local Government, Taxation and Law: Key Concepts Explained
Key Concepts in Law, Government and Taxation
Common law: Unwritten law based on tradition, custom or court decisions.
Governors possessed less power than they do today.
An elected official who cannot serve beyond the current term of office is a lame duck.
Court Jurisdiction
Intermediate appellate court: claims limited to $1,000.
Limited jurisdiction trial courts are courts of original jurisdiction.
Major trial courts hear cases of both criminal and civil nature.
In a criminal case, the state is the plaintiff.
Veto Powers
Line-item veto: veto of separate items rather than the whole bill.
Executive amendment: veto that rejects but suggests changes.
Package veto: veto of the entire bill.
Plea Bargaining
Successful plea bargaining results in the defendant pleading guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence or pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
Governor and Executive Powers
A governor whose term in office is 4 years is more powerful.
Many powers of a governor are found in the state constitution.
Excluding the governor, the most important state-wide offices in the executive branch are the treasurer, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.
The governor can change executive branch operations or activities by issuing an executive order.
Many powers of the governor include tenure of appointment power, veto power, budgetary power, reorganization power, and staffing power.
Governor's gubernatorial powers are not derived from constitutional or statutory law, known as the governor's inherent powers.
A plural executive is a system in which more than one member of the executive branch is popularly elected on a state-wide ballot.
One function of the secretary of state is to determine ballot eligibility of political parties and candidates.
Local Government Structures
General-purpose local government: A local government that provides a wide range of functions.
Single-purpose local government: A local government such as a school district that performs a specific function.
Strong-mayor-council: The mayor is empowered to perform executive functions of government and has save power over city council actions.
Weak-mayor-council: The mayor has few executive powers; the city council is the source of executive and legislative power.
City-manager government: Council hires an expert to run government.
City-commission government: Combination of legislative and executive.
Direct democracy is still practiced in New England towns.
Mayor-council.
Municipal Terms
Metropolitan areas must have a population exceeding 50,000.
Grants of home rule come from state governments.
District elections favor minority representation.
Equalization formulas are found in school districts.
The addition of unincorporated adjacent territory to a municipality is known as annexation.
A metropolitan statistical area is an urban cluster with a population between 10,000 and 49,000.
Incorporation in local government refers to the creation of a charter.
An ordinance is a local government equivalent of a statute.
A charter is a document which sets out a city's structure, authority and functions.
Taxation and Public Finance
Medicaid was enacted in 1965.
School districts relied on property taxes.
A "payment of a non-cash social welfare benefit such as food stamps or clothing to an individual recipient" is known as an in-kind program.
Sales tax has a higher yield.
A revenue bond has a higher interest rate.
SSI = direct cash transfer program.
AFDC = Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
Tax-service paradox is a situation in which people demand more but don't want to pay for them through higher taxes.
Tax effort refers to the extent to which a jurisdiction exploits its taxable resources.
Proportional (flat) tax = a tax in which people pay an identical rate regardless of income or economic transaction.