Consolidated city-county government

A consolidated city-county is the "formal joining of a city (or cities) with a surrounding county government," according to the National League of Cities. The new, unified government assumes the responsibilities of the former governments. For example, instead of having both a county council and a city council, most consolidated city-counties have one governing council for the entire jurisdiction as well as one chief executive, such as a mayor.

There are often other governmental bodies within the consolidated city-county that remain autonomous, such as school boards and special districts. The prior jurisdictions that formed a consolidated city-county may also continue to exist even after the new consolidated city-county takes on all governmental responsibilities.

This page contains:

• a list of consolidated city-counties
• information about the process to create a consolidated city-county
• a list of state ballot measures related to city-county consolidation

List of consolidated city-counties

The table below lists consolidated city-counties in the United States as well as which state they are in, their population, and their type of government. Check out our methodology section below for information on how city-counties were added to this list.

Methodology

City-counties were included in the table above if they were formed by a formal joining or merging of at least one city and one county. Independent cities were not included. In independent cities, the city is governmentally independent of any county organization and is not considered to reside within the boundaries of any county. Because of this, a county cannot exist within an independent city. In consolidated city-counties, both the city and the county still exist despite sharing a government. The United States Census Bureau considers independent cities as equivalent to counties.

Cities that became counties (or equivalent jurisdictions) were also not included in the table above. In those cases, the former city was dissolved and a larger entity was created to reflect the type of government needed. There was no consolidation.

Process to consolidate a city and county

Most consolidation processes include some or all of the following steps:

• Putting the consolidation to a vote via a ballot initiative for the residents of the proposed city-county.
• Getting approval for the consolidation from the state legislature.
• Drafting a charter to define the new consolidated government structure.

Most (75%) consolidation efforts since 1970 have been rejected at the ballot. Successful consolidations often go through multiple ballot initiative attempts.

List of state ballot measures related to city-county consolidation

The table below lists state-level ballot measures that were related to city-county consolidation as well as which states they were in, their election date, their status, yes and no votes, and a summary of the measure.

Consolidated city-counties

Ballot measure	State	Election date	Status	Yes votes	No votes	Measure summary
California Proposition 5, City and County Government Consolidation Amendment (1918)	California	November 5, 1918	Approved	195,998	183,610	Authorize counties with populations of 200,000 or more to make charters for consolidated city and county governments.
Oregon Measure Nos. 304-305, Allowing County and City Consolidation Amendment (1914)	Oregon	November 3, 1914	Defeated	77,392	103,194	Permit county-city consolidation in a county that contains a city with over 100,000 inhabitants.
Oregon Measure Nos. 312-313, City Consolidation within County Amendment (June 1927)	Oregon	June 28, 1927	Defeated	41,309	57,613	Allow cities with a population over 100,000 situated within a county to consolidate in that county.
Oregon Measure 5, City-County Government Consolidations Amendment (1968)	Oregon	November 5, 1968	Approved	393,789	278,483	Provide for the consolidation of city-county governments in counties with a city population of over 300,000.
Georgia Amendment 6, City and County Government Consolidation Measure (1924)	Georgia	November 4, 1924	Approved	64,918	23,673	Allow city and county governments to be consolidated when a city has a population of more than 52,900
Montana Consolidation of City and County Governments, Amendment 2 (1922)	Montana	November 7, 1922	Approved	67,249	50,178	Authorize the legislature to consolidate any city and county governments under one municipal government.

See also

• Council-manager government
• Mayor-council government
• Laws governing local ballot measures

External links

• National League of Cities
• United States Census Bureau Terms and Definitions

Footnotes

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