Which of the following statements about council-manager forms of government are accurate?

Form of Government

By City Charter, approved on February 7th, 2004, the City of El Paso operates under a council-manager form of government. This system combines elected officials, City Council, with an appointed local government manager. All power is concentrated in the elected council, which hires a professionally trained manager to carry out its directives and oversee the delivery of public services.

Out of 199 cities with populations numbering 100,000 or more, 113 use the council-manager form of government, with the City of El Paso being the latest. The council-manager form is adaptable to local conditions and preferences, and costs to local government are frequently reduced with competent management. These savings can include reduced operating costs, increased efficiency and productivity, improved revenue collection, or effective use of technology.

Which of the following are the two biggest sources of revenue for local governments?

-local sales tax -property tax

Which of the these types of city government is most common for Texas cities?

An election in which voters can't tell the political party of the candidates by looking at the ballot is called a(n) __________ election.

Choose the reasons why voter turnout is so low in municipal elections in Texas cities.

-a lack of contested races -low levels of voter interest -off-year elections

What is the group that most consistently wants to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution & wants to limit sex education to abstinence only programs?

A city ______ is a document much like a state constitution in that it provides the basic structure & organization of city government & the broad outlines of powers & authorities.

Which of the following statements are true about the constitutional county judge?

-may have judicial duties in rural countries -serves as the chair of the county commissioner's court

The portion of education costs paid by the state of Texas...

has declined over the last 20 years.

Which of the following are statements that are accurate about county government in Texas?

-County governments have much less power to pass ordinances than cities. -County governments lack centralized executive authority. -County governments can't by law provide many of the services that cities can, like sewer or water service.

Special districts are created...

sometimes to serve one function & sometimes to serve multiple functions in a specific area.

Which of the following services are provided by local governments?

-garbage collection -police & fire protection -water & sewers

For school districts, the single largest source of income is...

Which of the following are true statements about county commissioners?

-They are elected for four-year terms. -They are elected from commissioner precincts.

Most of the cost of county government is paid for by...

city residents paying county taxes.

Which of the following are the three most controversial areas of education policy in most school board elections?

-sex education -bilingual education -teaching intelligent design

In 1991 the Texas legislature consolidated property taxes within 188 units called _____ districts.

Which of the following correctly identify the two basic types of cities allowed under Texas law?

Who of the following people worked to pass House Bill 72?

-Ross Perot -Mark White -Gib Lewis -Bill Hobby

A city in Texas needs how many citizens before it can be chartered as a home-rule city?

If counties in Texas were given the same power of _____ rule as most Texas cities have, the counties would be able to adopt any form of county government not forbidden by law.

Counties in Texas revenue...

almost exclusively through property taxes.

Pick the following statements about school board elections that are correct:

-most are elected at large -elections are nonpartisan

How many counties are there in Texas?

The amount of local authority & independence granted by state governments...

varies greatly from state to state.

The primary reason special districts are created is...

to provide services when no other unit of government does.

A ________ city is one whose charter is specified in state statutes.

Choose the following effects of the 2006 special session on school finance reform.

-it temporarily solved the school finance problem -it cut the amount of revenue paid by rich districts by roughly half

Local governments get their authority from _______ governments.

What are the two basic forms of government used by Texas cities today?

-council-manager -mayor-council

In the council-________ form of city government, the citizens elect a council & a mayor, & those officials hire a professional administrator to run the city.

Which of the following issues are pressing challenges to Texas school districts?

-school funding -controversy over curriculum -ensuring quality education

Today the state of Texas pays roughly ___% of the cost of education & local districts pay the remainder.

After the Robin Hood plan was declared unconstitutional, the Texas legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to legalize it. The voters...

Which of the following statements are true about the Texas Association of Counties (TAC)?

-The TAC has fought diligently against home rule for Texas counties -The TAC is a politically powerful group -The TAC represents elected county officials

The Texas legislature revamped the Robin Hood plan after the 1993 amendment was defeated. Which of the following options does a rich school district have when its property taxes exceed the allowable maximum under that plan?

-Give the excess money to the state to be redistributed. -Combine its wealth with a specific poor district to get under the maximum.

________ is the only Texas mega-city to use a strong mayor-council form city government.

The type of municipal election in which all voters in the city elect each council member is called...

an at-large election system.

The state of Texas keeps a ____% share of every dollar taxed by the state sales tax.

All Texas cities have a power called __________ over an area that extends beyond the city limits.

extraterritorialjurisdiction

Under the _____ mayor-council form of government, the mayor has limited executive authority & little or no veto authority.

Which of the following statements are true about city council elections?

-using single-member districts increases the number of minorities on urban city councils -single-member city council districts often have very few ballots cast -there is little evidence that more minorities on a city council means great changes in policy

School districts are a type of _____ government.

A city _______ is hired to serve as chief administrative officer to some city governments.

Which of the following statements are true about Texas municipal elections?

-the Texas Election Code allows home-rule cities to use partisan elections -partisan was not an issue for most of the twentieth century since Democrats dominated Texas politics -no Texas cities officially use partisan elections today

A study of Texas's biggest cities found that council members from single-member districts (SMDs) differed from those from at-large districts in these ways:

-council members from SMDs increased their contacts with constituents regarding service requests -council members from SMDs showed more concern for neighborhood issues

Texas law says that local governments can't have more than ____% of the sales tax on each dollar of value.

Which of the following are accurate statements about the 2004 special session of the Texas legislature?

-it failed to find a solution to the public school financing crisis -it rejected Governor Perry's gambling idea because many Republicans opposed gambling

Single-count special districts (like flood control districts) are usually governed by boards...

elected by the voters in the area covered by the district.

To get basic services like water or sewage service, citizens living just outside of cities are forced to:

-contract with private contractors for the services -provide those services themselves -form other governments, like water districts

Which of the following statements are correct about the commission form of government?

-it initially worked well to rebuild Galveston -many cities adopted the commission form after seeing the success in Galveston

One of the most controversial parts of the House bill 72 was...

no-pass, no play for students in extracurricular activities

When the national or state government dictates policy to local governments without giving them any money to carry out the policy it's called issuing a(n)...

A study of Texas's biggest cities found that council members from single-member districts (SMDs) differed from those from at-large districts in these ways:

-council members from SMDs increased their contacts with constituents regarding service requests -council members from SMDs showed more concern for neighborhood issues

______ County in Texas is the county with the smallest population in the U.S.

Elections held at a different time of year from state & national elections are called _______ elections.

Which of the following are accurate statements about the 2004 special session of the Texas legislature?

-It rejected Governor Perry's gambling idea because many Republicans opposed gambling. -It failed to find a solution to the public school financing crisis.

What was the 1984 case in which Texas' system of school finance was declared unconstitutional?

Which of the following state administrative functions do Texas counties perform?

-operating state courts -recording vital statistics -voter registration

In 2005 the Texas Supreme Court ruled in Neely v. West Orange ISD that...

the district court was right & that Texas needed to find a legal way to fund its public school or shut them down by 2006.

Which of the following are reasons why small school districts have been consolidating in Texas recently?

-increased state aid to consolidating districts -ease of busing students into urban schools -to provide improved curriculum

The system of electing city council members in which voters get multiple votes & can use them on multiple candidates or use them all for a single candidate is called...

Like some other Texas cities, Houston uses _______ for its city council elections.

a combination of single-member & at-large districts.

Which assessment became the statewide achievement test for grades three through twelve while George W. Bush served as governor of Texas?

What are the duties of the county clerk?

-conducts elections -issues birth certificates

The current trend in Texas school districts is...

toward decentralized with charter schools.

Which of the following statements are true about county government?

-county governments are the primary administrative arm of the state -like Texas, most U.S. states have county governments -county governments are the oldest form of local government in the U.S.

Today county tax assessor collectors collect taxes, but in the past they also ______ in the county.

assessed the value of property

Some small, rural school districts that could consolidate successfully will not do it because they don't want to lose the community's _______ team.

The county auditor has the responsibility to...

collect & disperse county funds.

Which of the following statements best characterizes the powers exercised by county boards of supervisors in California quizlet?

What do Local Agency Formation Commission LAFCo do quizlet?

In which of the following ways does selection bias differ from presentation bias quizlet?

What was the logic behind the Texas Legislature's passage of the 1912 Home Rule Charter amendments that gave larger cities more autonomy?