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Governing in Putnam County— Locally: What is a municipality?
“With the 2023 municipal election just days away on Tuesday, Nov. 7, the time to cast a ballot is dwindling.” So began a Banner Graphic front-page article on “Early Voting” on Nov. 2.
This initial column in a planned series of columns titled “Governing in Putnam County — Locally” will focus on municipalities, one very important kind of local government in Putnam County, in the state of Indiana, and in most of the United States.
Let me begin by introducing myself and then say a bit more about my plans for subsequent Banner Graphic columns. I am a retired DePauw political science professor whose teaching and research centered on the American political system. This included a dozen or so years of teaching a course titled “State and Local Government” as well as researching and writing about local governance off-and-on during my academic career.
My tentative plan is for early columns to introduce the structures and responsibilities of, as well as the rationales for, different types of local governments found in Putnam County. Later columns will mostly build on local government nuts-and-bolts in the context of Putnam County.
Now back to this column’s focus: municipalities. Municipalities are local governments that (1) are typically created by a “bottom-up” process initiated by citizens living in the relevant area who want a new municipality created, (2) do not “cover the map” (in other words, the six municipalities in Putnam County do not occupy every square inch of Putnam County; indeed, they occupy a far smaller proportion of the county than the un-incorporated areas that lie outside them) and (3) are general-purpose local governments.
I shall take up each of these three numbered elements in turn.
Municipalities are created by a bottom-up process. Unlike counties, townships, and school districts, which generally are created by a “top-down” process, municipalities are typically created by a formal procedure initiated from the bottom up. Citizens who want more local government services than those already provided take steps to have a municipality created in the area in which they live.
Municipalities do not cover the map. A map of Putnam County shows that the county’s six municipalities (Bainbridge, Cloverdale, Fillmore, Greencastle, Roachdale and Russellville) are separated from each other by much larger areas of unincorporated territory (that is, land not contained within any of the six municipalities). The county’s six municipalities occupy only about 2.4 percent of the county’s land area. (Spoiler alert: Later columns will address other types of local governments in Putnam County that DO cover the map.)
Municipalities are general-purpose local governments. They are not “special-purpose local governments” (also known as “special districts”) that are empowered to provide government services in only a single functional area (e.g., public schooling). As general-purpose local governments, municipalities can provide multiple services such as water, a sewerage system, police, fire protection, streets and sidewalks, garbage and re-cycling collection and public recreational places such as parks and indoor recreational centers. (Here in Putnam County we have a prominent ongoing example of the last service just mentioned: The City of Greencastle is currently building a $28 million “Wellness Center” with indoor basketball courts, running and walking tracks, weight-training facilities, etc.)
To repeat, as general-purpose local governments, municipalities are not limited to a single functional area such as public schooling (or some other single function such as “mosquito control,” as about 20 special districts in the state of Washington are).
The six municipalities in Putnam County have significantly greater population densities than the rest of the county. This is generally true in the rest of the state and the country as well: Municipalities generally have higher population densities than the unincorporated areas surrounding them. While, as already mentioned, Putnam County municipalities occupy about 2.4 percent of the county’s land area, they have about 40 percent of the county’s residents.
Why are people who live closer together more likely to initiate the bottom-up process aimed at creating a municipality? The answer is fairly straightforward: Certain needs such as water and waste removal (i.e., sewerage systems) are generally thought to be more efficiently provided by a local government than by individual residents who live close to one another.
Imagine this: One homeowner wants to dig a well in his/her backyard but a neighbor’s septic tank is located just across the property line from where that first homeowner wants the new well to be. Alternatively, a homeowner’s preferred location for a septic tank is right across the property line from where a neighbor’s well is already located. And consider this: People who live on relatively small residential properties close to one another may be more likely to value public outdoor recreational spaces (parks, paths, swimming pools) than people who live on their own 100-acre rural properties.
In sum, when people live close together, the need or desire for basic local government services such the provision of water and removal of sewerage waste generally seems greater. In turn, municipalities tend to get established — from the bottom up. And, as already indicated, municipalities can and often do provide more services than just water and waste removal.
In Indiana, municipalities whose number of residents result in the need for a relatively large number of local government services are generally called “cities” (e.g., the City of Greencastle), while municipalities with fewer people needing fewer government services are generally called “towns” (e.g., the Town of Russellville).
According to recent U.S. Census data, the populations of the six Putnam County municipalities rank as follows: City of Greencastle (about 10,000), Town of Cloverdale (about 2,200), Town of Roachdale (about 850), Town of Bainbridge (about 700), Town of Fillmore (about 550) and Town of Russellville (about 300). Unsurprisingly, the City of Greencastle provides a greater range of government services than any of the five towns do.