Should areas become their own counties/cities?

[oscar]

I do think less-populated counties should merge in order to save money on duplicate sheriff, judges, prosecutors, etc.

Manitoba did that in 2015. Most municipalities whose populations had fallen below the 1000 minimums required for new municipalities, were forced into shotgun marriages with neighboring municipalities. The only exceptions were a few remote municipalities with no neighbors, and others with an unusual legal status. One of the latter survived despite a population of zero, even though it surrounded a city with well over 1000 residents.

The specific cost items you mention aren't relevant in Manitoba, or most anywhere else in Canada. The legal system is not tied to units of local government, but rather is usually a provincial/territorial function. In most provinces, outside the big cities local governments usually just arrange for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to cover their policing needs rather than hire their own sheriffs and police officers.

[Scott5114]

Or get rid of municipal income taxes (that just sounds like a royal pain in the ass for any business that travels to the customer's job site).

I'd disagree with that - here in Ontario, municipalities cannot take income tax. Thus, they can only rely on property taxes, bylaw violations, and other creative ways... (e.g. Toronto used to have a vehicle registration tax at one point). I feel that municipalities here are at a disadvantage for that, as I feel that the services provided are not being adequately paid for using the existing means.

In Oklahoma, the primary means of funding city government is sales tax. Now, sales tax is obviously a regressive form of taxation, and carries all the implications of that fact. However, income tax is assessed in the United States in a totally ass-backward way. You don't get a tax bill from the government saying you owe so much. Instead you have to work out yourself what your tax should be, and then you send it into the government, and if your calculations were wrong the government penalizes you for it. Most people with more than the most basic tax situation have to hire an accountant to ensure the calculations are correct. This situation is kept this way because (of course) someone profits off the way we do it now, so they pay lots of cash to make sure it stays that way.

This means that municipal income taxes in the United States are far more burdensome to the taxpayer than they are in Canada. If you work in more than one jurisdiction (imagine you're, say, an independent plumber who travels from house to house repairing leaky pipes) you would have to keep detailed records of what transactions took place in which municipality and which county (since they can each have their own tax rates, and in Oklahoma a municipality can be in multiple counties), what the correct tax rates are for each, and what paperwork to file to who, in order to remain in compliance. And if you make a mistake you get fined or could even go to jail.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Of course, here in New England compared to the rest of the US counties are mostly remnants from colonial times.

[Ted$8roadFan]

The proverbial elephant in the room are schools and school districts. They represent a substantial (if not the most substantial single item in the budgets. School funding is a perennial issue, especially with shifting enrollments. And as we've seen in the last two years, any debate regarding schools brings out the mist passion in just about everyone involved with them.

[snowc]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office? :yes:
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

[hotdogPi]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office? :yes:
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

The park is an unincorporated area, and state law prohibits municipalities from annexing areas within the park.

[snowc]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office?
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

The park is an unincorporated area, and state law prohibits municipalities from annexing areas within the park.

Welp my theory has been proven wrong!

[tolbs17]

If Greenville and Winterville merged, then it would be a huge game changer given that they are so close together. Some people call Winterville (South Greenville).

Just like how Rocky Mount merged with Battleboro.

[SP Cook]

As far as two house legislatures go, in my state we have 100 single member house districts, so 1.7M/100=17K people.  So my house member is a guy in my community who I know and who lives with the same issues I live with.  We have 17 dual member senate districts, so 1.7M/17=100K, so my two senators represent a broader and more diverse set of concerns. 

As to the concept of too many counties, around here it is not the too big issue, it is the too small issue.  As the coalfields have depopulated, the critical mass needed to provide services is not there anymore.  In some other places, like the Potomac Highlands and the Little Kanawha Valley, it never was there.  The legislature has tried to entice school boards (which are county based) to combine, but found few takers.  Everyone wants to be their own little fife. 

As to the original question, I cannot see why an research park should be a county. 

I do like the Disney system.

[ran4sh]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office? :yes:
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

Having a post office and being a city/incorporated municipality are two very different and completely independent things.

[Scott5114]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office? :yes:
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

Having a post office and being a city/incorporated municipality are two very different and completely independent things.

Indeed, just because a place has a post office doesn't mean that it's a town...and not having a post office doesn't mean it's not a town. Goldsby OK, where I grew up, has its own town government, mayor, fire department, etc. but mail goes through post office in neighboring Washington.

And sometimes the post office creates fictional towns for its own convenience. You can send mail to Shawnee Mission, Kansas, but if you go there you won't find any real-world city called Shawnee Mission. You can go to the city of Shawnee and the city of Mission, though (and I think a good number of other small cities, like Roeland Park and Fairway, might also be lumped in with "Shawnee Mission").

[NWI_Irish96]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office? :yes:
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

Having a post office and being a city/incorporated municipality are two very different and completely independent things.

Indeed, just because a place has a post office doesn't mean that it's a town...and not having a post office doesn't mean it's not a town. Goldsby OK, where I grew up, has its own town government, mayor, fire department, etc. but mail goes through post office in neighboring Washington.

And sometimes the post office creates fictional towns for its own convenience. You can send mail to Shawnee Mission, Kansas, but if you go there you won't find any real-world city called Shawnee Mission. You can go to the city of Shawnee and the city of Mission, though (and I think a good number of other small cities, like Roeland Park and Fairway, might also be lumped in with "Shawnee Mission").

Very true. Notre Dame CDP has its own post office, but is not incorporated. The USPS puts post offices wherever they feel they are needed without regard to municipal boundaries.

[Dirt Roads]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office?
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

The park is an unincorporated area, and state law prohibits municipalities from annexing areas within the park.

Welp my theory has been proven wrong!

Durham has quite a few zip codes assigned, and the locals tend to use only the last two digits:  Oh-One is 27701 in Downtown; Oh-Two is 27702 also in Downtown; Oh-Three is 27703 and is locally known as "Southern", which is actually east of the city; Oh-Four is 27704 is in the Braggtown section; Oh-five is 27705 is West Durham; Oh-six is 27706 for students on campus at Duke; Oh-seven is 27707 is Old South Durham (now known as Hope Valley); Oh-eight is 27708 is for Duke University departments; and Oh-nine is Research Triangle Park.  There are others as well. 

Fun fact:  Some businesses in the Oh-Nine shorten the city name to Durham 27709, but most use the moniker Research Triangle Park 27709.   I used to work for an employer at a project office alongside the Triangle Transit Authority (now Triangle Transit dba Go Triangle) capital projects department.  We were all on the same floor in the same large office space.  My employer used Durham 27709 and TTA used Research Triangle Park 27709.  Very weird.

[kphoger]

And sometimes the post office creates fictional towns for its own convenience. You can send mail to Shawnee Mission, Kansas, but if you go there you won't find any real-world city called Shawnee Mission. You can go to the city of Shawnee and the city of Mission, though (and I think a good number of other small cities, like Roeland Park and Fairway, might also be lumped in with "Shawnee Mission").

There was (still is), on the other hand, a very real and actual place called Shawnee Mission not far from where my mom grew up.  My parents are both originally from Shawnee Mission, having met in school at Shawnee Mission North.

[Scott5114]

And sometimes the post office creates fictional towns for its own convenience. You can send mail to Shawnee Mission, Kansas, but if you go there you won't find any real-world city called Shawnee Mission. You can go to the city of Shawnee and the city of Mission, though (and I think a good number of other small cities, like Roeland Park and Fairway, might also be lumped in with "Shawnee Mission").

There was (still is), on the other hand, a very real and actual place called Shawnee Mission not far from where my mom grew up.  My parents are both originally from Shawnee Mission, having met in school at Shawnee Mission North.

Well, sure. But most of the addresses that have Shawnee Mission on the bottom line aren't inside that building.

(Isn't it sort of silly that the mission isn't actually in Mission, but instead in Fairway?)

[mgk920]

Ooof!
RTP is considered a city
Has a Post Office? :yes:
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvRjwUTB2xtCTAo6

Having a post office and being a city/incorporated municipality are two very different and completely independent things.

How many named Post Offices serve NYC as well as the City of Los Angeles, CA?

Mike

[tolbs17]

Can Birmingham, AL merge with Jefferson County?

[KeithE4Phx]

Can Birmingham, AL merge with Jefferson County?

It can if Alabama law allows.  Depends on whether they want to.

It's happened several times already.  NYC is actually 5 counties (each borough is one, with Manhattan being New York County, Staten Island being Richmond County, the other borough counties using their own name).  Indianapolis and Marion County merged in the late 1960s.  Then there's Miami/Dade County, Houston/Harris County, and Jacksonville/Duval County that merged city and county governments.  There are probably others I can't think of right now.

[NWI_Irish96]

Here's another one: Chicago really needs to separate from Cook County. Chicago definitely doesn't need both city and county governments, and Cook County can't possibly optimize what's best for Chicago, Calumet City, and Winnetka.

[KeithE4Phx]

Here's another one: Chicago really needs to separate from Cook County. Chicago definitely doesn't need both city and county governments, and Cook County can't possibly optimize what's best for Chicago, Calumet City, and Winnetka.

But between the city, over 100 suburbs, and the various county agencies, that's a lot of politicians, bureaucrats and union thugs that need to be paid off when the need arises.  Can't get rid of them.  Unemployment will rise by 10% if they do.   

[iowahighways]

Someone had a website about 20 years ago that showed their proposals for forming new counties. I think there were some in California, and maybe one in Long Island. I think there was one in Iowa (or maybe Kansas) whose only purpose was to pare it down to the size and shape of surrounding rectangular counties.

It was a suggestion to split the northern half of Kossuth County, IA, into its own county just to give Iowa an even 100 counties. Truth be told, it actually was its own county, Bancroft, from 1851 to 1857. The same area became Crocker County in 1870 but was dissolved a year later because the Iowa Constitution didn't allow any new counties to be less than 432 square miles.

[abefroman329]

Can Birmingham, AL merge with Jefferson County?

It can if Alabama law allows.  Depends on whether they want to.

It's happened several times already.  NYC is actually 5 counties (each borough is one, with Manhattan being New York County, Staten Island being Richmond County, the other borough counties using their own name).  Indianapolis and Marion County merged in the late 1960s.  Then there's Miami/Dade County, Houston/Harris County, and Jacksonville/Duval County that merged city and county governments.  There are probably others I can't think of right now.

Brooklyn is Kings County

[KeithE4Phx]

Can Birmingham, AL merge with Jefferson County?

It can if Alabama law allows.  Depends on whether they want to.

It's happened several times already.  NYC is actually 5 counties (each borough is one, with Manhattan being New York County, Staten Island being Richmond County, the other borough counties using their own name).  Indianapolis and Marion County merged in the late 1960s.  Then there's Miami/Dade County, Houston/Harris County, and Jacksonville/Duval County that merged city and county governments.  There are probably others I can't think of right now.

Brooklyn is Kings County

Yes, you're right.  I forgot about that.

[Scott5114]

It's happened several times already.  NYC is actually 5 counties (each borough is one, with Manhattan being New York County, Staten Island being Richmond County, the other borough counties using their own name).  Indianapolis and Marion County merged in the late 1960s.  Then there's Miami/Dade County, Houston/Harris County, and Jacksonville/Duval County that merged city and county governments.  There are probably others I can't think of right now.

Kansas City-Wyandotte County (the WyCo Unified Government) in Kansas
I think there's one in Kentucky as well.

[jlam]

It's happened several times already.  NYC is actually 5 counties (each borough is one, with Manhattan being New York County, Staten Island being Richmond County, the other borough counties using their own name).  Indianapolis and Marion County merged in the late 1960s.  Then there's Miami/Dade County, Houston/Harris County, and Jacksonville/Duval County that merged city and county governments.  There are probably others I can't think of right now.

Kansas City-Wyandotte County (the WyCo Unified Government) in Kansas
I think there's one in Kentucky as well.

I think two (Louisville and Lexington)