What are the two categories in which Michigan government units fall into?
As of April 2002 there were more than 2,700 government units in Michigan, and they fall into two categories. • General-purpose units are counties, cities, villages, and townships. Each has an elected board as their legislative body. • Special-purpose units are K-12 school districts, intermediate school districts, regional educational service agencies, community colleges and authorities; all have a governing body that may be elected or appointed. General-purpose units of government operate with restricted power, that is, the unit’s authority is granted by the state, either through the constitution or statute. Whether a unit is empowered to engage in an activity depends on whether the state has expressly granted it authority to do so. In Michigan, counties, townships and villages begin as general-law units, but if they meet certain statutory requirements, they may change to charter (home-rule) units, by law, all cities are charter units. (Wayne County is the only home rule county in Mich
