Differences between cities and villages (Chicago: schools, community college, taxi)

[pvande55]

Most Chicago suburbs are villages, some are cities. I can see no differences between the two except names. Some villages elect trustees at large but some are divided into districts. Besides being called council members instead of aldermen, they seem synonymous. Few of them, either cities or villages, have full time mayors.

[punkerjim]

just throwing it out there but does it have anything to do with population? or does the city/village/town/etc basically just get to decide what they want to call themselves and sometimes Village just sounds nicer.

[thePR]

Not really, of course the population of a place may determine whether it is a city, village or town. The three are just various forms of government.

[slow_nerve_action]

Here in the Midwest, there is no difference.

The traditional set-up, as seen in England, the Netherlands, and in best illustrated by New York State

A city is traditionally an autonomous body that provides its own services, rivaling, or even superseding the state or provincials on some levels.

A town is an urban area where municipal officials are elected, and are responsible for provising services. Still, if services are not provided, or officials are proven to be inept, the state/province can take over the town, and usurp the authority of the elected officials (a key difference from a city). The difference between a town and township used to be a lot more blurred.

A village is an unincorprated area, often with a voted in council that serves as an advisory authority, but has no real taxing/municipal responsibility. Traditionally, villages were within towns, or even straddled town lines/township lines, where inhabitants shared some kind of common factor (profession, or even out of favor ethnicity like Roma or Irish).

[chet everett]

The Illinois constitution lays out the various legal structures of how cities, villages and "townships" along with counties may be structured. Beyond this there are stipulations of what population cut offs automatically allow a unit of government to have a more "free form" level of set of guidelines of how they may raise revenues and such -- the ability to do the latter fall under the "Home Rule" guidelines.

The general LEGAL terms mostly revolve around how the "highest office" is able to make appointments / suggest laws -- mayors are SUPPOSED to be "kept in check" by other elected officials (like aldermen) but in practice (given the record of Daley...) this rarely happened. Under the Village form of government the "President" of the Board of the Board of Trustees is also supposed to have pretty limited powers. In practice what often happens is the President's literal ability to place items on the agenda is the main way the strategic direction of a Village is determined. The paid 'professional' Village Manager is supposed to take direction from the Board of Trustees & President but in practice putting in a full time as "head" of Village operations gives them a ridiculous ability to shape things...

Illinois has overlapping layers of government more numerous than any other state. Villages & Cities generally are inside townships which are inside counties. Additionally we have various layers of elected judges from circuit court through state supreme court, school boards for all levels from elementary through community college, fire protection distircts, library districts, park districts, forest preserve districts, waste water reclamation / sanity sewer districts, airport authorities, mosquito abatement, regional superintedant of schools, county and township highway commissioners, potable water commissions and probably a few more than even I have not stumbled across. No wonder so many elected officials end up as crooks!

[chet everett]

The "midwest" has no constitution -- Illinois very much does.

Originally Posted by slow_nerve_action

Here in the Midwest, there is no difference.

The traditional set-up, as seen in England, the Netherlands, and in best illustrated by New York State

A city is traditionally an autonomous body that provides its own services, rivaling, or even superseding the state or provincials on some levels.

A town is an urban area where municipal officials are elected, and are responsible for provising services. Still, if services are not provided, or officials are proven to be inept, the state/province can take over the town, and usurp the authority of the elected officials (a key difference from a city). The difference between a town and township used to be a lot more blurred.

A village is an unincorprated area, often with a voted in council that serves as an advisory authority, but has no real taxing/municipal responsibility. Traditionally, villages were within towns, or even straddled town lines/township lines, where inhabitants shared some kind of common factor (profession, or even out of favor ethnicity like Roma or Irish).

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The "midwest" has no constitution -- Illinois very much does.

Seems all kind of outdated and in need of redoing or rethinking.
your right way too many layers way way too much waster

seems like our tax dollars would stretch a bit more if we had larger townships.

Just a thought but at least it would cut a layer out

why even have townships anymore now that i think about it

[pvande55]

So it looks like it is just as I suspected; there is no difference between city and village except for the name. Townships are another story, they don't have a stated function, though one runs an open space district and another runs transportation. Several Counties don't even have them.

[slow_nerve_action]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The "midwest" has no constitution -- Illinois very much does.

What I was saying is that the traditional form that these have taken don't mean much, compared to other parts of the country and world.

Most Midwestern states carved out of the NW Territories were set up under the township system, which varied greatly from the traditional systems set up in the 13 colonies. So, the designation in Illinois doesn't mean much, same as in Indiana, Michigan, or Wisconsin.

Just a little historical perspective.

[chgodon]

Its always been my understanding the difference between cities and villages are how they get funded by the Federal and State Governments?