Civil township

Madison Township Hall in Madison Township, Richland County, Ohio

Depending on the state, the township government has varying degrees of authority.

In the Upper Midwestern states near the Great Lakes, civil townships (known in Michigan as general law townships[1] and in Wisconsin as towns), are often, but not always, overlaid on survey townships. The degree to which these townships are functioning governmental entities varies from state to state and in some cases even within a state. For example, townships in the northern part of Illinois are active in providing public services—such as road maintenance, after-school care, and senior services—whereas townships in southern Illinois frequently delegate these services to the county. Most townships in Illinois also provide services such as snow removal, senior transportation, and emergency services to households residing in unincorporated parts of the county. The townships in Illinois each have a township board, whose board members were formerly called township trustees, and a single township supervisor. In contrast, civil townships in Indiana are operated in a relatively consistent manner statewide and tend to be well organized, with each served by a single township trustee and a three-member board.

Civil townships in these states are generally not incorporated, and nearby cities may annex land in adjoining townships with relative ease. In Michigan, however, general law townships are corporate entities (e.g. they can be the subject of lawsuits),[2] and some can become reformulated as charter townships, a status intended to protect against annexation from nearby municipalities and which grants the township some home rule powers similar to cities. In Wisconsin, civil townships are known as "towns" rather than townships, but they function essentially the same as in neighboring states. In Minnesota, state statute refers to such entities as towns yet requires them to have a name in the form "Name Township". In both documents and conversation, "town" and "township" are used interchangeably. Minnesota townships can be either Non-Urban or Urban (giving the township government greater power), but this is not reflected in the township's name.[3] In Ohio, a city or village is overlaid onto a township unless it withdraws by establishing a paper township. Where the paper township does not extend to the city limits, property owners pay taxes for both the township and municipality,[4] though these overlaps are sometimes overlooked by mistake.[5] Ten other states also allow townships and municipalities to overlap.[6]

In Kansas, some civil townships provide services such as road maintenance and fire protection services not provided by the county.

1877 map of Warren County, Indiana. Among its civil townships, only Pine Township exactly matches a survey township with 36 sections.

In the South, outside cities and towns there is generally no local government other than the county.

North Carolina is no exception to that rule, but it does have townships as minor geographical subdivisions of counties, including both unincorporated territory and also land within the bounds of incorporated cities and towns (as well as the extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities). Every county is divided into townships as mandated since the North Carolina Constitution of 1868. Some urbanized counties such as Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) now number their townships (e.g. "Township 12") rather than using names. Townships all over the state used to have some official organization and duties but now are only considered ceremonial divisions of each county. Township names are still used quite extensively at the county government level in North Carolina as a way of determining and dividing up areas for administrative purposes; primarily for collecting county taxes, determining fire districts (e.g. Lebanon Township in Durham County gives its name to the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department), for real estate purposes such as categorizing land deeds, land surveys and other real estate documents, and for voter registration purposes. In most areas of North Carolina that are outside any municipal limit (outside cities or towns), townships are used to determine voter polling places, and in most instances county election boards divide up their voter precincts by township. However, there is no government per se at the township level in North Carolina, and there are no elected or appointed offices associated with townships.

In 2015 Utah created a form of civil township called a metro township. While each metro township has a mayor[7] and township council, and manage a budget, and cannot be annexed without its permission,[8] its powers of taxation are limited, and must contract with other municipalities or municipal shared-service districts[9] for most municipal services (police,[10] for example). The five metro townships—all located in Salt Lake County—are Kearns, Magna,[11] Copperton, Emigration Canyon and White City.

As of 2012, there were 16,360 organized town or township governments in the following 21 states:[12]

There were 29 states without organized town or township governments as of 2020:[12]

• California had townships at statehood. County boards of supervisors had the authority to create, consolidate, or abolish townships as late as the 1920s.[13]
• Iowa had 1,608 townships in 1942. By 1952, their responsibilities and functions had essentially been absorbed by their counties, were considered "vestigial", and were no longer counted.[14]
• Oklahoma did have civil townships statewide upon statehood. On August 5, 1913, Oklahoma voters passed the Oklahoma Township Amendment, also known as State Question 58. This allowed the creation or abolishment of townships on a county by county basis.[15] By the mid 1930s, all counties had voted to abolish them.[16] Their former names and boundaries were used for United States census counting purposes and census documentation through 1960, after which Census Counting Divisions (CCDs) were used.[17][18]
• South Carolina had 2 townships in 1952, those of Folly Island, and Sullivan's Island.[19]
• The 1870 Constitution of Virginia required the division of counties into townships, but an amendment in 1874 converted those townships into magisterial districts.[20]
• Washington had 70 townships in 1952, in only Spokane and Whatcom counties, for administration of local roads.[21]

• Township (United States)
• Survey township
• Charter township
• Metro township
• County (United States)
• Political divisions of the United States
• Minor civil division
• Hundred (country subdivision)
• Township for other divisions called "township"
• Unorganized territory
• List of subnational entities

• National Association of Towns and Townships
• U.S. Census Bureau, Geographic Areas Reference Manual - Chapter 8: County Subdivisions