 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2023) |
| Town | |
|---|---|
| |
 | |
| Category | Municipality |
| Location | New England |
| Found in | County |
| Created by | Various colonial agreements followed by state constitutions |
| Created |
|
| Number | 1,360 |
| Populations | 29 (Frenchboro) – 64,083 (West Hartford) |
| Areas | 0.8 sq mi. (New Castle) – 281.3 sq mi. (Pittsburg) |
| Government | |
| Subdivisions | |
The town is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in the six New England states. Most other U.S. states lack a direct counterpart to the New England town. New England towns overlie the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning municipal corporations, possessing powers similar to cities and counties in other states. New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting, an assembly of eligible town residents. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; there, statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though elsewhere in the U.S. they are prevalent. County government in New England states is typically weak, and in some states nonexistent. Connecticut, for example, has no county governments,[1] nor does Rhode Island.[2] Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, while Massachusetts[3] has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far. Counties serve mostly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems and some other state services in the southern New England states while providing varying (but generally limited) services in the more sparsely populated three northern New England states.
- ^ "Connecticut State Register and Manual, Section VI: Counties". Connecticut Secretary of the State. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
THERE ARE NO COUNTY SEATS IN CONNECTICUT. County government was abolished effective October 1, 1960; counties continue only as geographical subdivisions.
- ^ "Facts & History". Rhode Island Government. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
Rhode Island has no county government. It is divided into 39 municipalities, each having its own form of local government.
- ^ "Historical Data Relating to the Incorporation of and Abolishment of Counties in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts". Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Retrieved January 23, 2010.