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The past several decades have brought significant changes to county governments in the United States as these jurisdictions assume an increasing share of urban services and opt for more modern forms of government. This article focuses on the policy consequences of the change from the traditional form of commission government to either the elected executive or appointed administrator form. Using an interrupted pooled time-series design with 10 reorganized counties and 10 matched jurisdictions, the analysis confirms the null hypothesis. Changes in form of government have virtually no effect on rates of change in county fiscal behavior.
The past few decades have brought an enormous increase in county government reorganization. Even though the traditional form of commission government is still most prevalent, over 1,100 counties across the country now operate under some version of an appointed administrator or elected chief executive form of government (Jeffery, et al., 1989, 120). In 1960, only about 83 counties had such chief executives (Governmental Research Institute, 1980, 12). Most of these so-called reform counties are populous enough that a majority of Americans now live in reorganized counties. Yet almost nothing is known in any comparative or systematic sense about the consequences of this far-reaching change in local government structure. Perhaps 30 years ago this lack of knowledge might have been understandable. But today, many counties enjoy a large measure of governmental autonomy, and urban counties in particular have taken on a wide range of optional services previously reserved to city governments. A sizable literature has analyzed the effects of the urban reform movement on city governments, but we have little understanding of the policy consequences of changes in governmental structure among American counties.
A frequently tested hypothesis in the urban policy literature is that reform governments should tax and spend less than nonreformed municipalities. Yet, the results of such research have been mixed. As discussed below, some studies confirm the basic thesis that reformers were largely successful in immunizing city government from the big spending preferences of lower-income ethnic and minority voters. Others find that changing the form of municipal government has little if any effect on taxing and spending policy. Regardless of the lack of definitive findings in the urban policy literature, we should profit from a brief...