Spotlighting Municipal Governments in Texas
Tashia Walker
Professor Steven Tran
Government 2301
10 December 2012 Spotlighting Municipal Governments in Texas
Home to the famous historical Alamo, San Antonio Texas has a metropolitan appeal. One of the most populated cities in Texas today. Currently, it has a significant growth span in terms of national demography in the United States. Its population is about 1 million people and rising. From 2000-2010, it was the fastest growing city in United States top ten largest cities. The location of the city is strategic since it falls within the Texas Triangle.
The city of San Antonio is the seat of Bexar County. The city, just like most urban areas, has most of its population in the city with few people living outside the environs of the city. The city’s municipality is the renowned San Antonio, which covers the New Braunfels region. The metropolitan area has a population of about two million in reference to the census conducted in 2011 United States census estimate. This makes the metropolitan area the 24th largest area in U.S. besides, within the state of Texas, it comes as the third largest (Kraemer, Charldean and David 100).
The city of San Antonio has unique governance defined by a council-Manager setup. The city is divided into ten council districts, which are designed to make sure that there is equal population distribution among all the districts.
Each district elects its representative to sit in the county council with the mayor. The entire city elects the mayor. All the city council members including the mayor are elected for a two-year term. They can run for office only for four terms. As required by Texan law, all members are elected on a non-partisan ballot. Council members earn twenty-dollars per meeting while the mayor gets salaried four thousand dollars annually. In addition to being council members, most of them maintain their full-time employment. Currently, the mayor is a position held by
Professor Steven Tran
Government 2301
10 December 2012 Spotlighting Municipal Governments in Texas
Home to the famous historical Alamo, San Antonio Texas has a metropolitan appeal. One of the most populated cities in Texas today. Currently, it has a significant growth span in terms of national demography in the United States. Its population is about 1 million people and rising. From 2000-2010, it was the fastest growing city in United States top ten largest cities. The location of the city is strategic since it falls within the Texas Triangle.
The city of San Antonio is the seat of Bexar County. The city, just like most urban areas, has most of its population in the city with few people living outside the environs of the city. The city’s municipality is the renowned San Antonio, which covers the New Braunfels region. The metropolitan area has a population of about two million in reference to the census conducted in 2011 United States census estimate. This makes the metropolitan area the 24th largest area in U.S. besides, within the state of Texas, it comes as the third largest (Kraemer, Charldean and David 100).
The city of San Antonio has unique governance defined by a council-Manager setup. The city is divided into ten council districts, which are designed to make sure that there is equal population distribution among all the districts.
Each district elects its representative to sit in the county council with the mayor. The entire city elects the mayor. All the city council members including the mayor are elected for a two-year term. They can run for office only for four terms. As required by Texan law, all members are elected on a non-partisan ballot. Council members earn twenty-dollars per meeting while the mayor gets salaried four thousand dollars annually. In addition to being council members, most of them maintain their full-time employment. Currently, the mayor is a position held by