Blog #5

It’s not a secret that state and local governments don’t always just seamlessly come together in order to resolve their issues. The textbook states that “the relationship between states and their communities are often strained. On the one hand, state government gives local governments life. States create the rules for their localities. On the other hand, state governments historically have not treated their local governments very well” (233). It all comes down to power, whether it be that the states are exercising their power over local governments, or how much power they’re giving local governments.

The textbook states that “a state can supersede the local government within its boundaries” (233). The book also mentions “Dillon’s rule” (234) which basically means that local governments only have the power that states give them and if there’s any confusion or conflict, it is to be resolved in favor of the state. The state government has a history of using their power against their local governments and the zoning situation in Arizona mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 10 was the perfect example of that. The state government definitely does stick its nose in local government a lot. The state regulates local governments service standards, functions, processes, structure, professional personnel, and finances which is a big factor in the conflict between both state and local governments. “Localities enjoy their own sources of revenue - property taxes , user fees, and business license fees - but depend on the states for much of their income” (239). This can be frustrating for the local governments considering that the state governments aren’t super generous with their funding so the local governments have to make up the difference from their residents but the way they do so is strictly monitored and “highly circumscribed” (239) by state governments. 

There is definitely a lot of conflict in between state and local governments but it’s healthy for the United States in the long run. The state government has to look over so many different local governments that they forget that people and communities are what make up these local governments. Local governments advocate for the people they have a responsibility to, the people in their communities. They’re there to advocate for us and be our voices and each one is different which is why, when looking at state governments which are more general, you see that they have a responsibility to a much bigger group of people. We need these two to check each other and to work through conflict sometimes in order to do that.