IamSauerKraut OP t1_j6g8ih9 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 2:39 AM

Reply to comment by hike_me in Say good-bye to Dennysville: de-organization under consideration by IamSauerKraut

>Outside of New England, the county is the default form of government.

Not sure this is true.

hike_me t1_j6gaxyh wrote on January 30, 2023 at 2:56 AM

In most states outside New England town government isn’t even really a thing (if town government exists it is extremely limited in power compared to the county). “Towns” are often unincorporated settlements and cities are the incorporated municipalities. In some cases you’ll even have enclaves of unincorporated areas in the middle of huge cities that refused to be annexed and continue to be administered at the county level (for example, Google map Houston and look at the border — that irregular shape is the result of annexing densely settled unincorporated areas) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_town

Houston https://maps.app.goo.gl/MkksCHaSkHagEwyv7?g_st=ic

Harris County, where Houston is located, has a bunch of unincorporated communities: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Harris_County_Texas_incorporated_and_unincorporated_areas_Houston_highlighted.svg

Check out how much of Los Angeles County (maybe the most populated county in the US?) is unincorporated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Los_Angeles_County,_California