Consolidated city-county

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In American local government, a consolidated city-county, metropolitan municipality or regional municipality is a city and county that have been merged into one jurisdiction. As such, it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation; and a county, which is an administrative division of a state. This is different from the independent city, which is a city that is not located within the boundaries of any county, but is separate from the neighbouring county. All cities in Virginia are independent cities, and Carson City, Nevada is as well.

The terms "metropolitan municipality" and "regional municipality" attempt to distinguish between a city-county containing urban areas that formerly existed as independent municipalities (New York City and Philadelphia), or a city-county containing urban, suburban and even rural areas, some of which may have never had an independent, subcounty government (e.g., Indianapolis or Jacksonville). Individual sections of a metropolitan or regional municipality may retain some autonomous jurisdiction apart from the city-wide government. New York City, for example, consists of five counties/boroughs, each of which retain certain local powers through their own borough councils and presidents.

Consolidated city-counties may also be called metropolitan governments and metropolitan counties -- however, "metropolitan county" can also refer to jurisdictions like Arlington County, Virginia, and Prince George's County, Maryland, both of which are counties that contain no municipalities.

England used to have two "Metropolitan Counties" -- Greater London and Greater Manchester -- but these were recently reorganized. Modern unitary authorities are similar, and are known as county boroughs in Wales. In Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh are functionally "independent cities," though the term is not used.

Similar arrangements exist in other countries such as Seoul, South Korea which is a "Special City".

Wyandotte County, Kansas uses the term "unified government" to refer to its consolidation with Kansas City, in which other cities and towns remain separate jurisdictions within the county.

List of consolidated city-counties:

"City and Counties" (or county equivalents) that have existed as such since their creation:

• City and County of Broomfield, Colorado [1] (city existed before the county's creation in 2001)
• City and County of Denver, Colorado (city established before county's creation)
• City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii [2] (however, there are no "cities" or subcounty governments in Hawaii, thus the "City" designation in "City and County" is essentially meaningless; the U.S. Census defines Honolulu as only a fraction of the "City and County")
• Juneau City and Borough, Alaska
• New Orleans and Orleans Parish, Louisiana (officially known simply as "City of New Orleans")
• City and County of San Francisco, California
• Sitka City and Borough, Alaska
• Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska

Cities and counties, formerly separate entities, that have since merged and are now coextensive:

• Anaconda and Deer Lodge County, Montana [3]
• Athens and Clarke County, Georgia
• Augusta and Richmond County, Georgia
• Butte and Silver Bow County, Montana
• Columbus and Muscogee County, Georgia
• Hartsville and Trousdale County, Tennessee
• Lexington and Fayette County, Kentucky [4]
• Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky [5]
• Lynchburg and Moore County, Tennessee
• New York City, New York [6] has been coextensive with an amalgamation of five counties since 1898, each of which is also a borough and more popularly known as such - some, however, with a differing name (in parentheses):
  • New York County (Manhattan) (New York County alone was coextensive with New York City until 1898)
  • Bronx County (Bronx) (New York County included what is now Bronx County from 1898 until its creation in 1916)
  • Kings County (Brooklyn)
  • Richmond County (Staten Island)
  • Queens County (Queens)
• Philadelphia and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, whose borders have been conterminous since 1854; government structures were consolidated in 1952, yet the county still exists as a separate entity within Pennsylvania

Cities and counties, formerly separate entities, that have since merged; however, some parts of the county remain as independent municipalities:

• Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana [7] (four communities within Marion County retain separate governments)
• Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida (four cities within Duval County retain separate governments; all other rural land is incorporated by Jacksonville, preventing any annexation by them)
• Kansas City and Wyandotte County, Kansas (this "Unified Government" contains Kansas City and three other communities; a county relationship is maintained with the rest of the communities within the county)
• Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee (eight communities within Davidson County retain separate governments, although all participate in the metropolitan government in a two-tier system)

Five cities in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia were formed by the consolidation of a city with a county -- Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. However, in each case an independent city was created and as such they are not consolidated city-counties. Similarly, Carson City was consolidated with Ormsby County, Nevada in 1969, but the county was simultaneously dissolved. The city is now a municipality independent of any county.

Potentially consolidated city-county governments

• Aurora, Colorado, split between three counties, explored the creation of a new consolidated city-county in 1996; the effort failed in a referendum and is currently not being pursued. However, five years later nearby Broomfield was successful in creating a new city-county from portions of the four counties it had been a part of.

A number of other cities in the United States are considering merging their governments with the county that contains them:

• Buffalo and Erie County, New York
• El Paso and El Paso County, Texas
• Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana
• Houma and Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
• Montgomery and Montgomery County, Alabama
• Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
• Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio

Formerly consolidated city-county governments

• The City of Boston and Suffolk County, Massachusetts operated with a consolidated government for most of the twentieth century, but this was not a true consolidation because three municipalities (Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop) never amalgamated with Boston but remained separate jurisdictions within Suffolk County. The special relationship between Boston and Suffolk County ended in 1999.