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I've traveled a fair bit of the country and I sometimes have a hard time understanding it. Help me out with this...If you live in a town, within a county that has a government, who takes care of your town services? Is it the county or the town? What if you live in a county, but not in a town, is your area run by the county?
In Mass and most of New England, the county government is either non-existent or they serve minor roles such as prisons or as bodies that organize region wide projects.
The ignorance of each other's regions goes both ways. I remember talking to a guy from Arizona who couldn't grasp the concept that our entire state was incorporated into towns or cities. He asked, "What happens when you leave your town?" to which I replied, "You enter another town." He was dumbfounded
That's hilarious. A woman I worked with who moved here (NJ) from Arkansas once said "In other places in this country, you drive along and you come to a town. Here there is no space between the towns."
She's right--unless you notice the "Welcome to" or "You are now leaving" signs at the borders, you wouldn't know you had left one town and entered another.
It gets complicated. We have state roads, county roads, township roads, and city roads; taken care of by state, county, township, and city, respectively.
In general, the cities and villages have their own police forces. If you live in the unincorporated county as I do, you have the county sheriff. The sheriff's department does a good job, but is spread very thin. The county sheriff is the head law enforcement official for the entire county. The state highway patrol covers the state roads.
Fire and EMS is covered by township volunteer departments. The City of Wooster has a paid Fire & EMS department. Wooster is also its own township (Killbuck Township).
The county has a sales tax, but the real money is in the villages and cities, which have income taxes. I pay Wooster income tax because I work in Wooster, although I live outside of town. I will also be paying a school income tax next year. Schools, roads, and Fire/EMS are mostly funded by property taxes.
Wooster provides city sewer outside of the city due to failing septic systems in neighborhoods such as mine. I have a city water meter on my well which determines my sewer bill. Those without water meters pay at the rate of 400 gallons a day. City water is only available to city residents. Parts of the county have county sewers; the rest of the unincorporated areas use septic tanks.
School districts do not necessarily follow county, city or township boundaries.
I've traveled a fair bit of the country and I sometimes have a hard time understanding it. Help me out with this...If you live in a town, within a county that has a government, who takes care of your town services? Is it the county or the town? What if you live in a county, but not in a town, is your area run by the county?
In Mass and most of New England, the county government is either non-existent or they serve minor roles such as prisons or as bodies that organize region wide projects.
The ignorance of each other's regions goes both ways. I remember talking to a guy from Arizona who couldn't grasp the concept that our entire state was incorporated into towns or cities. He asked, "What happens when you leave your town?" to which I replied, "You enter another town." He was dumbfounded
If you live in town limits, the town provides services (police, fire, snow removal, etc). If you live outside town limits the county provides those services (with the exception of fire protection...generally the town still provides that and in many small towns firefighters are volunteer). For library services, if you live outside town limits you may need to pay a yearly fee. That's not the case where I live now but it was where I used to live. My address still has the town name and zip code, but it is outside city limits.
I grew up in a small town that doesn't have a police department. They have a contract with the county sheriff's office. It is the same way with animal control...they contract out.
And yet .... the OP seems almost PROUD of this fact, and is indeed bragging about his / her own ignorance. How very, very strange.
As a native Southerner, I will vouch for the fact that residents of the Northeast tend to be the most uneducated about other regions of the c
I'd have to say that's not really true. I feel like that distinction would probably belong to Californians or people in the deep south. Most of the east coast (and I mean all of the east coast...from New England to Florida) has citizens that are pretty well traveled at the very least throughout the eastern 1/3rd of the country. I feel like if anything there are fewer southerners who have traveled up north than vice versa. Most northerners have at least traveled to the south and/or know people who live there. Not necessarily the cast for most southerners.
As far as the OP's map/comments....I agree it is pretty misguided and that he/she should get out more. This whole country offers a great variety of cultural aspects yet at the same time has a familiar bond throughout that makes it just a great country to traverse.
That's hilarious. A woman I worked with who moved here (NJ) from Arkansas once said "In other places in this country, you drive along and you come to a town. Here there is no space between the towns."
She's right--unless you notice the "Welcome to" or "You are now leaving" signs at the borders, you wouldn't know you had left one town and entered another.
I would hate that. LOL
Oh, and I would like to clarify that the woman from CT I was discussing this with is an idiot in many ways. Haha!
It gets complicated. We have state roads, county roads, township roads, and city roads; taken care of by state, county, township, and city, respectively.
In general, the cities and villages have their own police forces. If you live in the unincorporated county as I do, you have the county sheriff. The sheriff's department does a good job, but is spread very thin. The county sheriff is the head law enforcement official for the entire county. The state highway patrol covers the state roads.
Fire and EMS is covered by township volunteer departments. The City of Wooster has a paid Fire & EMS department. Wooster is also its own township (Killbuck Township).
The county has a sales tax, but the real money is in the villages and cities, which have income taxes. I pay Wooster income tax because I work in Wooster, although I live outside of town. I will also be paying a school income tax next year. Schools, roads, and Fire/EMS are mostly funded by property taxes.
Wooster provides city sewer outside of the city due to failing septic systems in neighborhoods such as mine. I have a city water meter on my well which determines my sewer bill. Those without water meters pay at the rate of 400 gallons a day. City water is only available to city residents. Parts of the county have county sewers; the rest of the unincorporated areas use septic tanks.
School districts do not necessarily follow county, city or township boundaries.
I'm going to use your post anytime I see someone on this board criticizes Massachusetts for being too bureaucratic
Many northeastern states have a different definition of 'town' than elsewhere. In the northeast, town is merely a matter of political boundaries, not a built up residential and commercial area.
My sister lives in a 'town' and she is miles from the nearest shopping and surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of acres of forest filled with deer, bear, and coyotes.
Many northeastern states have a different definition of 'town' than elsewhere. In the northeast, town is merely a matter of political boundaries, not a built up residential and commercial area.
My sister lives in a 'town' and she is miles from the nearest shopping and surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of acres of forest filled with deer, bear, and coyotes.
Yes, the New England model of a town values the town as it is without having the developers ruin everything by building housing developments and shopping centers everywhere. Now, growth can be subjective. Some towns prefer growing organically with mostly locally owned businesses, shops, and restaurants. Some towns prefer getting all the mainstream chain type operations. However, an important buffer against excessive development is conservation lands at the TOWN level in New England. Easements on land, state forest lands, houses on larger lots, etc prevent a good deal of high density developments like you would find in many areas further south and west in the US.
There is no county-wide zoning. Cities and villages have zoning. A couple of townships have zoning. One township's zoning plan had the entire township zoned residential. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. They came up with another plan that was basically the same. The voters voted it down by about two to one. Wise choice, as I am sure it would have also been ruled unconstitutional.
There are developments controlled by homeowner's associations (HOAs). The farm across the street turned into an HOA. As it turned out, the neighbors across the street bought multiple lots and set their houses back from the road, so I still have my privacy. My neighbors drive far too much, but they do not complain. Actually, they did complain about water well contamination, and demanded safe water. Once they found out they would have to help pay for city sewer, they changed tunes and said there was no problem. Too late; we have city sewer now.
I was on the County Planning Commission for six years. Objections to new allotments (in plain talk) were:
Now that I moved here, it's time to put up the No Vacancy Sign.
I want zoning on my neighbors, but not for me.
These are not valid reasons for denying an allotment.
There have been zoning proposals for county-wide zoning on a township basis, but they have been voted down. I do not see that zoning would improve anything.
There is no county-wide zoning. Cities and villages have zoning. A couple of townships have zoning. One township's zoning plan had the entire township zoned residential. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. They came up with another plan that was basically the same. The voters voted it down by about two to one. Wise choice, as I am sure it would have also been ruled unconstitutional.
There are developments controlled by homeowner's associations (HOAs). The farm across the street turned into an HOA. As it turned out, the neighbors across the street bought multiple lots and set their houses back from the road, so I still have my privacy. My neighbors drive far too much, but they do not complain. Actually, they did complain about water well contamination, and demanded safe water. Once they found out they would have to help pay for city sewer, they changed tunes and said there was no problem. Too late; we have city sewer now.
I was on the County Planning Commission for six years. Objections to new allotments (in plain talk) were:
Now that I moved here, it's time to put up the No Vacancy Sign.
I want zoning on my neighbors, but not for me.
These are not valid reasons for denying an allotment.
There have been zoning proposals for county-wide zoning on a township basis, but they have been voted down. I do not see that zoning would improve anything.
Very interesting local perspective. Wayne county is quite a crossroads area because it is in a transition zone between areas closer to the Great Lakes, the Corn Belt, the foothills of the Appalachians, and Amish Country. Is most of the growth driven by demographics or job growth? Does Wayne county have a large amount of growth due to the spillover of Amish from Holmes county
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