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In American local government, a consolidated city-county, metropolitan municipality or regional municipality is a city and county that have been merged into one jurisdiction. As such, it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation; and a county, which is an administrative division of a state. This is the opposite of an independent city, which is a city that is not located within the boundaries of any county, but is separate from the neighboring county. All cities in Virginia are independent cities, and Baltimore, Maryland; Carson City, Nevada; and St. Louis, Missouri are as well. The highest concentration of large consolidated governments in the United States is in the lower midwest and upper south, where Indianapolis, Indiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and Lexington, Kentucky are located. The terms "metropolitan municipality" and "regional municipality" attempt to distinguish between a city-county containing urban areas that formerly existed as independent municipalities (New York City and Philadelphia), or a city-county containing urban, suburban and even rural areas, some of which may have never had an independent, subcounty government (e.g., Indianapolis or Jacksonville). Individual sections of a metropolitan or regional municipality may retain some autonomous jurisdiction apart from the city-wide government. New York City, for example, consists of five counties/boroughs, each of which retains certain local powers through their own borough councils and presidents. Consolidated city-counties may also be called metropolitan governments and metropolitan counties -- however, "metropolitan county" can also refer to jurisdictions like Arlington County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland, both of which are counties that contain no incorporated municipalities. England has six "metropolitan counties" created in 1974: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, and West Yorkshire. From 1986, they do not have County Councils but rather joint boards for certain functions. Modern unitary authorities are similar, and are known as county boroughs in Wales. In Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh are functionally "independent cities," though the term is not used. Similar arrangements exist in other countries such as Seoul, South Korea, which is a "Special City." Wyandotte County, Kansas, uses the term "unified government" to refer to its consolidation with Kansas City, Kansas, and most of the towns within the county boundaries in which some cities and towns remain separate jurisdictions within the county. Often, in place of another level of government, municipalities form coalitions — essentially governmental organizations which are not empowered with any lawmaking or law enforcement powers. This is the case in the Atlanta metropolitan area, where the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) studies and makes recommendations on the impact of all major construction and development projects on the region, but generally cannot stop them. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) is a true government agency of the state of Georgia, and does control some state transportation monies to the cities and counties, but otherwise has very little authority beyond this small power of the purse.
Consolidated since their creation Merged Merged with some independent municipalities Five cities in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia were formed by the consolidation of a city with a county — Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach (from Norfolk, Elizabeth City, Warwick, Nansemond, and Princess Anne counties, respectively). However, in each case an independent city was created and as such they are not consolidated city-counties. Similarly, Carson City was consolidated with Ormsby County, Nevada in 1969, but the county was simultaneously dissolved. The city is now a municipality independent of any county. Potentially consolidated Considered consolidation Formerly consolidated See also | ||||||||
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