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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
1 Cf. Wager, Paul W., County Government and Administration in North Carolina (1928)Google Scholar, and Kilpatrick, Wylie, Problems in Contemporary County Government (1930)Google Scholar.
2 Kilpatrick, op. cit., p. 638.
3 Art. VIII, sec. 3.
4 Here are some typical urban-county boards from the point of view of size: Bay county, 39 supervisors; Calhoun, 37; Genesee, 37; Ingham, 30; Jackson, 27; Kalamazoo, 22; Kent, 52; Muskegon, 33; Oakland, 45; Wayne, 125.
5 Michigan, Public Acts (1923)Google Scholar, No. 170. Cities of less than 3,000 have two supervisors; cities of 3,000 to 4,000 have three; cities of 4,000 to 15,000 have four; cities of 15,000 to 25,000 have five; cities of 25,000 to 35,000 have six; cities of 35,000 to 50,000 have seven; cities of 50,000 to 65,000 have eight; cities of 65,000 to 80,000 have ten; cities of 80,000 to 100,000 have twelve; cities of 100,000 and not more than 500,000 have one additional supervisor for each additional 10,000 or fraction thereof; cities of more than 500,000 have one additional supervisor for each additional 40,000 or fraction thereof. Some cities are still, however, represented on county boards in accordance with the terms of special charters granted by the legislature prior to the introduction of home rule in 1908.
6 Michigan stands with New York, Wisconsin, and Illinois as one of the few remaining outposts of township representation on county boards. Cf. Fairlie, John A. and Kneier, Charles M., County Government and Administration (1930), p. 111Google Scholar.
7 Under the general terms of Act No. 170 of 1923, which sets up a population scale in accordance with which cities receive representation on boards of supervisors, Ann Arbor should have six supervisors and Ypsilanti four. However, Ann Arbor was granted seven supervisors, one for each ward, by special charter prior to the home rule amendment, and this still controls the representation of the city. Ypsilanti's charter provides for two county supervisors, and this provision controls Ypsilanti's representation until it is amended to provide for the four members to which the city is now entitled. This is one illustration of some of the complexities raised by the exceptions included in the act of 1923, namely, “that wherever the representation of cities upon the board of supervisors of the county has been fixed by law it shall remain as now fixed until changed by charter provision….”
8 The statistics of representation for some of the counties follow:
9 Bay county is now approximately 71 per cent urban; Genesee, 74 per cent; Ingham, 74 per cent; Jackson, 60 per cent; Kalamazoo, 60 per cent; Kent, 70 per cent; Muskegon, 69 per cent; Oakland, 53 per cent; Saginaw, 67 per cent. These statistics include as urban three small cities in Genesee county and one each in Muskegon and Oakland which have a population of less than 2,500. This is the dividing line used by the census between urban and rural areas. The five small communities referred to are included in urban population because they are incorporated as cities and entitled to separate representatives on the board of supervisors. These figures are based on the press releases of the 1930 census.
10 Art. V, sec. 2.
11 On the cost of large county boards, see Kendrick, M. Slade, A Comparison of the Cost of Maintenance of Large and of Small County Boards in the United States (Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1929)Google Scholar.
12 Cf. Manning, J. W., “County Consolidation in Tennessee,” 17 Nat. Mun. Rev. 511 (Sept., 1928)Google Scholar, and “Bigger and Cheaper Counties,” 107 Literary Digest 10 (Oct. 18, 1930)Google Scholar.
13 The statistics used in the analysis of these nine counties were compiled from official sources by Judge Arthur J. Lacy, chairman of the Property Owners' Division of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. Cf. his authoritative pamphlet on the finances of Michigan counties entitled The Costs of Government (privately printed, 1930.)
14 Detroit Free Press, Dec. 8, 1930.
15 The state constitution limits the power of the legislature to reduce the size of counties, but not its power to consolidate them. Art. VIII, sec. 2: “No organized county shall be reduced by the organization of new counties to less than sixteen townships, as surveyed by the United States, unless in pursuance of law a majority of electors voting on the question in each county to be affected thereby shall so decide.” A movement by some state officials in 1929 toward county consolidation raised such a furor that it was dropped with despatch.
16 Const., Art. VIII, sec. 20: “The legislature shall provide by a general law for the incorporation of cities, and by a general law for the incorporation of villages…;” Sec. 21: “Under such general laws, the electors of each city and village shall have power and authority to frame, adopt, and amend its charter …” This was not a self-enforcing mandate. But the legislature has acted in good faith by laying down liberal provisions as to what shall, and what may, be contained in a city charter. This good faith has been continuous, for the legislature has frequently modified the general law of incorporation to conform more closely to the desires of the cities.
17 Art. VIII, sec. 3.
18 Hatten, C. Roy, “The Movement for County Government Reform in Michigan,” 9 Nat. Mun. Rev. 696 (1920)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
19 Citizens' State Committee, How to Save Money for Michigan Taxpayers (pamphlet, 1921)Google Scholar.
20 The chief objections to this amendment were that it made no provision for the consolidation or elimination of townships or for the consolidation of school districts.
21 Art. VII, sec. 13.
22 Art. VIII, sec. 3.
23 Mich. Comp. Laws (1915), secs. 2479 and 4872 respectively.
24 Ibid., sec. 5878.
25 Art. VII, sec. 9.
26 Mich. Comp. Laws (1915), secs. 2470 and 12165 respectively.
27 Mich. Comp. Laws (Annotated Supplement, 1922), sec. 4352.
28 In Wayne county, the board of auditors consists of three members elected for a term of four years at a salary of $8,000 a year. County of Wayne, Manual (1930), p. 70Google Scholar. Washtenaw county has a board of auditors selected by the board of supervisors. Mich. Local Acts (1927), No. 1.
29 With the exception of certain cities in which the urban supervisors are selected by the city council, and others in which the charter designates specific municipal officials as county supervisors. Some cities use a combination of these two methods. The township supervisors must be elected annually. Art. VIII, sec. 18.
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