Municipalities of New Holland

There are ??? municipalities in New Holland, exclusive to the provinces of Ferland and Galloway. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in New Holland and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the provincial government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes.

Municipal status
As a second level administrative division municipalities are the third tier of public administration in New Holland after the central government and the provinces. New Holland is a decentralized federal state, which means that the central government delegates certain tasks to lower levels of government by law. The different levels do, however, make work agreements, which give municipalities a certain degree of independence in their policy decisions. Municipalities are responsible for a wide variety of public services, which include land-use planning, public housing, management and maintenance of local recreation facilities and waste management.

The municipalities are governed by both a mayor and a municipal council. The municipal council is elected every four years. The number of members in the council ranges from nine members for the smallest municipalities to twenty-five members for the largest. It is the highest administrative body in the municipality and controls public policy. The executive power lies with the executive board, which consists of a mayor, along with executive officers. The mayor is elected for four years at a time by the public and the executive officers are elected by the municipal council, typically after each municipal election. The mayor is responsible for public order and is the first in command during emergencies, all other tasks are distributed freely between mayor and executive officers. The exact portfolio for each person differs between each municipality.