How are unincorporated areas governed?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I wouldn't know, because being from New Jersey, we really don't have any.... : P

[dead0man]

County Sheriffs are the local policing agency in such places normally?  What do you mean "governed"?

[Sbane]

They are basically governed by the county.

[Bacon King]

The county government.

[Meeker]

Law enforcement is provided by the sheriff, fire protection is provided by local fire districts, other services are covered by the county (oftentimes poorly).

[Ban my account ffs!]

What is an unincorporated area?

The lowest form of land division here is a township... except in remote areas of the state where they have unorganized territory.. but that still counts as a township.. it's just bigger than a normal one.

Here, we have a county sheriffs department that patrols the whole county and we also have fire districts and school districts, but townships have a governing body (township board) that do have rights to make regulations on land use, sewer, water as well as the building and maintenance of township roads.

[Meeker]

Here in Washington (and I'm guessing some other states), we have three main levels of government. There's the state government, obviously, which deals with the typical state government stuff.

Then there's county governments. Everywhere is within a county. Counties collect property taxes, run elections and other crap.

Some places within the county are incorporated cities. Cities have the power to levy certain taxes, run a police department, maintain roads and parks and all those other things. However, a lot of the area within a county isn't in an incorporated city. These are unincorporated areas, and everything that a city would do is done by the county government (although it is typically done very poorly - thus the desire to form cities and live in them).

There are other things like fire, school, sewer, water and parks districts that have special functions and sometimes (though not always) overlap with city limits.

[Alcon]

Pretty much every state actually has townships.  In some they have no government, and are just used for property assessments.  In other places, they are the government.  They also exist within incorporated cities.

In some states (like Ohio), there are both incorporated cities and towns.  That is, the City of Adams might spill over the borders of Jefferson and Adams Townships, without encompassing both.

That's all I have to add to Meeker's explanation.

[Brittain33]

Pretty much every state actually has townships.  In some they have no government, and are just used for property assessments.  In other places, they are the government.  They also exist within incorporated cities.

New England is the outlier here because county government is largely non-existent and every piece of land outside of unpopulated parts of Maine is allocated to either a town or a city providing a certain level of services. (Towns and townships are quite different.)

I don't really understand townships within incorporated cities. The only place I know if them is Indianapolis, although there may be others.

The N.J. township I grew up in, East Brunswick, was once the rural hinterland for geographically smaller cities and mill towns that were adjacent to or carved out of it in the 19th century. Now, East Brunswick has mostly filled up with suburban houses and has a much larger population than the municipalities of South River, Milltown, and Spotwsood that would fall within its natural borders.

[Sam Spade]

Well, in Houston, Texas (Harris County), unincorporated areas are governed by the county government.  The rest of Texas functions the same, I'm pretty sure.  A lot of the unincorporated areas in Harris County don't have water/sewer coverage, btw, unless some deal has been made with the incorporated areas (they have septic tanks).

Of course, even the incorporated areas are governed to a certain extent by the county.  The incorporated areas fill in the gaps (which are huge, obviously).

[Alcon]

Well, in Houston, Texas (Harris County), unincorporated areas are governed by the county government.  The rest of Texas functions the same, I'm pretty sure.  A lot of the unincorporated areas in Harris County don't have water/sewer coverage, btw, unless some deal has been made with the incorporated areas (they have septic tanks).

Of course, even the incorporated areas are governed to a certain extent by the county.  The incorporated areas fill in the gaps (which are huge, obviously).

Water and sewer districts are oftentimes unrelated to incorporated boundaries.  Municipalities just oftentimes get into the business.  Sewer/water districts can be entirely rural, city+rural, etc.  Unlike say police service, it's not something defined by being city-attached that is sometimes contracted by unincorporated areas or tiny municipalities.

I don't really understand townships within incorporated cities. The only place I know if them is Indianapolis, although there may be others.

A lot of states with government-free townships plot assessor data in squares; each of these squares is referred to as a township.  This is done in some places where townships aren't completely ignored (the Plains states) and places where they don't even bother naming them (the West Coast).  Ohio is also like this.  Towns are square-ish, and cities exist independently of them, even though the towns have their own government.  There's also villages and stuff, which are a different matter.

[Sam Spade]

Well, in Houston, Texas (Harris County), unincorporated areas are governed by the county government.  The rest of Texas functions the same, I'm pretty sure.  A lot of the unincorporated areas in Harris County don't have water/sewer coverage, btw, unless some deal has been made with the incorporated areas (they have septic tanks).

Of course, even the incorporated areas are governed to a certain extent by the county.  The incorporated areas fill in the gaps (which are huge, obviously).

Water and sewer districts are oftentimes unrelated to incorporated boundaries.  Municipalities just oftentimes get into the business.  Sewer/water districts can be entirely rural, city+rural, etc.  Unlike say police service, it's not something defined by being city-attached that is sometimes contracted by unincorporated areas or tiny municipalities.

Quite true.  I didn't want to go into *that* much detail, but yes...

[Smash255]

Here on Long Island we have many unincorporated areas, I live in one.  Its governed by the county and the Town (Nassau and the Town of Oyster Bay) in my case.   The incorporated villages here also are controlled in some aspects by the county and town.  The only differences really between incorporated and unincorporated areas is the incorporated areas you have a little more local control as some of the services provided by the town and county in unincorporated areas are controlled by the villages in incorporated areas.