Question

Describe what COG is and its importance in the federal-state-local relations and visit the Census of Governments website and identify the types of special districts in the state of Mississippi.

Answer 1

COG

COG stands for the Council of Government is also known as the Regional council in United States.  It is a regional planning body which is spread throughout the country. A COG is a voluntary association which consists of the elected public officials who hail from the major local governments within an urban or metropolitan area. COGs were originally formed during the 1970s and 1980s as an appropriate forum of public governance concerning the local and the regional problems.Their function is to establish a consensus among the members about the needs of an area and steps that are required to be taken to solve the problems at the local and interlocal level.

COGs are beneficial to the states in a way that they help in planning, coordinating and in overseeing the administration and implementation of federal and state programs, assisting the local governments in handling a set of tasks in accordance to the state regulations thus providing for a flexible network for an effective regional action and fosters cooperation that helps to avoid duplication of efforts and thus helps the governments gain advantage of the economies of scale. The number of COGs increased to more than 660 in 1980 as a result of federal requirements and massive increments in federal aid to state and local governments between the periods 1957 and 1977. With the rise of Ronald Reagan's administration, the number of COGs reduced significantly as a result of reduction in federal aids being provided to the local governments.

Special Districts of Mississippi

From the point of the U.S Census Bureau, Mississippi ranks 29th among the US states in the number of local governments. Mississippi statutes authorizes the creation of various special districts or authorities that may be counted as governments

The various types of special districts in Mississippi are identified as follows:

• Air Ambulance Service Districts
• Cooperative service districts
• Drainage Districts
• Emergency Medical Service Districts
• Five Lakes Utility Districts
• Flood control districts
• Gas districts
• Harrison County Waste water and Solid Waste Management district
• Horn Lake Creek Basin Interceptor Sewer District
• Joint water management districts
• Lighting districts
• Lower Mississippi River Basin Development district
• Lower Yazoo River Basin Development district
• Master Water Management districts
• Housing Authorities
• Joint Municipal Electric Power Agencies
• Mississippi Gulf Coast Regional Wastewater Authority
• Municipal Gas Authority of Mississippi
• Northeast Mississippi - Northwest Alabama Railroad Authority
• Northeast Mississippi Regional Water supply district
• Pat Harrison Waterway district
• Pearl River Basin Development district
• Pearl River valley water supply district
• Port commissions
• Public Improvement districts
• Railroad authorities
• Regional and Joint Airport Authorities
• Regional and Joint City-County Library systems
• Regional solid Waste management authorities
• Ridgeland Tourism commission
• Shoreline and Beach Preservation districts
• Soil and water conservation districts
• Southern Regional wastewater management district
• Urban Flood and Drainage control districts
• Utility districts
• Water, sewer,Garbage Disposal and Fire Protection districts