General-law municipality

"Statutory city (United States)" redirects here. For use of the term in other countries, see Statutory city (disambiguation).

In the systems of local government in some U.S. states, a general-law municipality,[1] general-law city,[1] code city,[2] or statutory city[3][4] is a municipality whose government structure and powers are defined by the general law of its state. This is in contrast to a charter city or home-rule city, whose government structure and powers are defined by a municipal charter.

States may allow only general-law municipalities, only charter municipalities, or both. In states having both, general-law municipalities generally have less autonomy than charter municipalities do. Six states do not allow municipal charters, meaning that every municipality is a general-law municipality.[5] Other states may allow or require charters for all municipalities or may allow charters only for municipalities meeting certain criteria, requiring other municipalities to be general-law municipalities.[6]

  1. ^ a b "Local Government in Texas" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  2. ^ City and Town Classification, from Municipal Research and Services Center
  3. ^ "Types of Cities in Minnesota". Archived from the original on 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  4. ^ https://www.kunc.org/news/2020-02-27/a-60-000-person-town-and-a-100-person-city-how-colorados-communities-get-named
  5. ^ General law local government, from Ballotpedia
  6. ^ States that allow charter municipalities