Delegation of Power

League of Women Voters^®
of Virginia

Public Policy Position

DELEGATION OF POWER
The League of Women Voters of Virginia strongly believes that the powers and responsibilities of local government should be defined to achieve a more balanced partnership with state government.
The League supports:

The articulation of statewide goals and policies to enhance the partnership and shared responsibilities of state and local government, including regional coordination and incentives for innovative and particularly appropriate local action.
The concept of regional bodies as agencies for coordinating activities and programs of local jurisdictions and as instrumentalities for solving problems which cross jurisdictional boundaries and acting on them.
Establishing broad categories of responsibility and uniform powers by changing the distinctions between cities, counties and towns.

The use of coordinating bodies to:

Provide economies by avoiding duplication of under utilized services where needs are region-wide and where there is an agreement of the need and type of service;
Make uniform or compatible ods of data collection available to aid planning agencies and where actions of one locality" have significant impact on its neighbors; and
Benefit localities by exchanging knowledge of actions of other jurisdictions.

Operating bodies should follow similar procedures and should:

Strive to avoid proliferation of political subdivisions;
Ensure that structure of governing boards are such that they are responsible to the citizenry. (1972 & 1991)

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