While virtually every U.S. citizen pays taxes to one or more special-purpose jurisdictions, these institutions remain obscure even to many specialists in local government. In this chapter, I will provide an overview of the recent history, functions, governance, and finances of special districts. Several excellent scholars have provided thorough treatments of these issues, and I do not intend the present discussion to be comprehensive. I focus on those aspects of special-purpose government that will be central in the remainder of the book, namely, representation and taxation.

WHAT IS A SPECIAL DISTRICT?

According to the Census of Governments, “Special district governments are independent, special-purpose governmental units … that exist as separate entities with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from general-purpose local governments” (1994 p. vii). Most special districts perform a single function, although some provide a few related services. Almost any service provided by a municipality can be provided by a special district government. The special district familiar to most Americans is the school district. Although school districts are the most numerous, they represent less than one-third of all special districts. Among the 35,000 nonschool special districts in existence as of 2002, some of the most common functions included providing fire protection, water, sanitation, parks, and libraries, although this list hardly begins to convey the variety of special district functions (more on this later).