Whether you’re voting for your mayor or city council, your local elected officials make decisions that affect your daily life. City councils (which may also be called the city board, board of aldermen, or board of selectmen) make major policy choices, set rates on income and sales taxes, decide where new affordable housing will get built, and much more. They also make decisions about how your city spends tax dollars and other funding, and they often share responsibility for running the city with a city manager or another leadership structure.
Elections for city councils look very different across the country, from an at-large system where all residents vote for one city council member to districts or wards where each resident votes for a single representative. The number of councilmembers can vary, too — from 5 to 51 in cities across the country.
The New York City Council, for example, includes 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. It serves as a check against the mayor in the city’s unique mayoral-council government model, legislates on a wide variety of topics, and has sole authority to approve the city budget. Its members are limited to two consecutive four-year terms in office.
A big part of the city council’s work comes through its committees, which are made up of varying groups of members tasked with deep dives into specific policy topics. The city’s finance committee, chaired by Daniel Dromm, is a prime example: Members of this panel conduct public hearings and gain insights from law enforcement, advocates and residents to identify what should be included in the mayor’s proposed budget.