Mayor and Vice-Mayor
The Basics
Your Mayor leads your city, town, or village government. Along with your local Council, they play a huge role in your daily life, and can make decisions on housing and homelessness, public transit, policing, local taxes, social services, public schools, parks, libraries, basic services like trash pickup, and more. The Mayor also represents your city, town or village to the public during emergencies and in negotiations with other municipalities, the county and the state.
Every municipality organizes their government a bit differently, but there are two general systems, and Mayors have different levels of power depending on the system your municipality uses.
In a strong-mayor system, the Mayor is a chief executive – a bit like the President, but only for your city – and the Council is like the city’s legislative branch. The Mayor leads the city government and is responsible for its daily operations and enforcing city laws, so they have a big influence over every major policy area. In this system, the Mayor usually has the power to:
- Sign local ordinances into law, or veto laws they don’t approve of
- Propose a city budget, which lays out how the city government spends its money (usually the Council negotiates with the Mayor after receiving the proposed budget, and then votes on a final version)
- Appointing important leaders for various parts of the city government, such as your local police department’s Police Chief, the City Manager if your city has one, and other department heads
–if you live in one of the few cities that doesn’t have an elected School Board, this also includes the Superintendent of your public school district! - Making an annual report to the Council on the state of the city
This system of government is common in cities with large populations, like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
In a weak-mayor system, the Mayor is a voting member of the city, town, or village Council. Usually in this system, the Mayor is elected by all of the municipality’s voters, but they don’t have much power to make decisions and set policies by themselves. Instead, the Mayor has the same powers of a Council member, plus a few other minor responsibilities. Depending on the municipality, those responsibilities can include:
- Serving as the ceremonial head of the government – representing the municipality during emergencies and at community events
- Leading and setting the agenda for Council meetings
- Appointing special committees within the Council to work on specific issues
This system of government is more common in towns, villages, and smaller cities.
What does a Vice-Mayor do?
It’s not common, but some municipalities elect a Vice-Mayor separately from the Mayor. A Vice-Mayor’s most important job is to be first in line to the Mayor’s office – if the Mayor dies, resigns, or is unable to do their job for any other reason, the Vice-Mayor can step in with no need for a special election. In some municipalities, the Vice-Mayor is a voting member of the Council.
Most municipalities that don’t elect a Vice-Mayor separately have other city officials in the line of succession (the list of officials who are legally able to serve as Mayor if needed), like the Speaker of the City Council, the City Manager, or an appointed Deputy Mayor.
How do I find out how it works in my municipality?
As of 2019, the US had almost 20,000 cities, towns, and villages! So as much as we’d love to, we can’t list the specifics of them all here. If you’re curious about how your local government works, start by finding your city, village, or town’s official website – if they have one, it will probably have at least a basic breakdown of who does what. If you have a local newspaper, their coverage might also be a good source of information. If you live in a very small-population area and there isn’t any online information, you still have options: visit your local library, or get in touch with your local Board of Elections or Voter Registrar and ask if they have any information to share with you.
How can I make my voice heard?
Democracy works when you do! Learn how to advocate for what you believe in, no matter the office or government agency, with our handy Genius Guides to advocacy.
Sources: New York City government; Los Angeles District 2; Office of the Chicago City Clerk; Statista
What have Mayors done?
Even though Mayors are local government officials, their actions can have a huge impact on people and communities. Here are just a few that have made a big impact:
- Eddie Moran
Pennsylvania
After a three-alarm fire displaced dozens of residents, Reading Mayor Eddie Moran launched a city-sponsored donation drive to help victims and families - Ron Smith
Virginia
Cast a tie-breaking vote allowing a new complex of single-family homes to be built in the small town of Scottsville, the town’s first new neighborhood in 70 years - LaToya Cantrell
Louisiana
Declared a sanitation emergency in New Orleans and approved a trash contract without the approval of City Council, prompting an accusation from the state Attorney General that she was misusing her emergency powers to avoid Council oversight
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In 2020, the murder of George Floyd sparked a nationwide protest movement and public debates over race, police brutality, and American history. In many cities, the protests included civilian efforts to remove statues of Confederate figures, such as in Richmond, Virginia, where residents pulled down a statue of Jefferson Davis, who was the President of the Confederate States during the Civil War. Similar events were happening in other localities with dangerous consequences, such as in Portsmouth, when a rope snapped as residents pulled down parts of a Confederate monument. This almost resulted in a fatal injury, causing concern for Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond.
In the midst of 2020’s protests, the Virginia legislature passed a law that, beginning July 1 of that year, allowed communities to remove Confederate monuments if they followed a public hearing process and provided enough advance notice. When this law went into effect, Mayor Stoney declared a state of emergency in Richmond and immediately ordered the removal of several Confederate monuments, arguing that his emergency powers allowed him to bypass the law’s notice procedures. He stated that with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact the community, if protestors continued to remove monuments themselves, there was an increased risk of illness and injury to residents. He also said he believed the emergency directive would help the city’s “healing process” as it came to terms with its history as the former capital of the Confederacy.
Reactions from Richmond’s City Council were mixed. Though many Council members were in support of removing the monuments, some had concerns about the potential legality of the Mayor’s actions. Councilwoman Kim Gray, for example, said that she would support the Mayor’s actions if they were found to be legal by attorneys, but she was “not in support of ignoring laws that we don’t like.” There were also mixed reactions from the legal community: the interim City Attorney, Haskell Brown, said the city risked legal action, but others believed the Mayor’s actions fell under Virginia law. Meanwhile, the state government was also taking action on Confederate monuments on its property. The Virginia Supreme Court eventually struck down lawsuits from local residents and allowed the state capitol to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general. Richmond went on to remove over a dozen Confederate monuments during Mayor Stoney’s time in office.
Sources: Politico; the Code of Virginia, Title 15.2; NPR (2020); City of Richmond; Time; CBS 6 News Richmond; WAVY 10 News; NPR (2021)
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Fenton, Louisiana is a very small town – around 230 residents, 20 blocks, and one gas station. Like a lot of small towns, it doesn’t have many ways to bring in money, so it relies heavily on fines like traffic tickets. In fact, in 2022 over 90% of the town’s $1.4 million budget came from fines and forfeitures, and the town was known in the area as a “speed trap.” Louisiana is also one of two states (along with Ohio) that allow for “mayor’s courts,” a system where the mayor acts as a judge for minor violations such as traffic tickets. Until 2023, Fenton used this system, but critics saw a clear conflict of interest: the mayor, who is responsible for the town’s budget, was also deciding who had to pay fines. Back in 1979, the US Supreme Court ruled that setups like this were unfair if a significant amount of the town’s revenue came from the court, because the mayor could not act as an impartial judge.
After news investigations highlighted the issue, Fenton’s Council eventually appointed an attorney to take over as the town’s judge. While that solved the immediate problem, Fenton’s story highlights the challenges of raising revenue in small towns, and the entanglement of financial interests and official responsibilities that can result.
Sources: Data USA, LA Illuminator (Nov. 2023), LA Illuminator (Dec. 2023), Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School, KPLC TV