Functions and powers

II Virginia has special provisions relative to cities and counties. The Commonwealth is divided into 95 counties and 39 cities. Cities are independent cities, which mean that they are separate from, and independent of, any county they may be near or within. Cities in Virginia thus are the equivalent of counties as they have no higher municipal government intervening between them and the state government. The equivalent in Virginia to what would normally be an incorporated city in any other state, e.g. a municipality subordinate to a county, is a town. For example, there is a County of Fairfax as well as a totally independent City of Fairfax, which technically is not part of Fairfax County even though the City of Fairfax is the County seat of Fairfax County. Within Fairfax County, however, is the incorporated town of Vienna, which is part of Fairfax County. Pennsylvania has 67 counties. With the exception of Philadelphia and Allegheny, counties are governed by three to seven county commissioners who are elected every four years; the district attorney, county treasurer, sheriff, and certain classes of judge ("judges of election") are also elected separately. Philadelphia has been a consolidated city-county since 1952. Allegheny County has had a council/chief executive government since 2000, while still retaining its townships, boroughs and cities. Each county is divided into municipalities incorporated as cities, boroughs, townships, and towns. The Commonwealth does not contain any "unincorporated" land that is not served by a local government. Townships are divided into one of two classes, depending on their population size. Townships of the "First Class" have a board made up of five to nine commissioners a particular ward and those of the "Second Class" have a board of three to five supervisors. Both commissioners and supervisors are elected at-large for a four-year term. Boroughs in Pennsylvania are governed by a "mayor-council" system in which the mayor has only a few powers (usually that of overseeing the municipal police department, if the borough has one), while the borough council has very broad appointment and oversight. The council president, who is elected by the majority party every two years, is equivalent to the leader of a council in the United Kingdom; his or her powers are operate within boundaries set by the state constitution and the borough's charter. A small minority of the boroughs have dropped the mayor-council system in favor of the council-manager system, in which the council appoints a borough manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the borough. Cities in Pennsylvania are divided into three classes: Class 1, Class 2, Class 2A, and Class 3. Class 3 cities, which are the smallest, have either a mayor-council system or a council-manager system like that of a borough, although the mayor or city manager has more oversight and duties. Philadelphia city government also has oversight of county government and as such controls the budget for the district attorney, sheriff, and other county offices that have been retained from the county's one-time separate existence; these offices are elected for separately than those for the city government proper.

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