4 ms·
Even in the US stuff like that happens. I recently refinanced, and the lender kept getting hung up on how they needed to "contact my county" for verification.
by larrik 9y ago
Even in the US stuff like that happens.
I recently refinanced, and the lender kept getting hung up on how they needed to "contact my county" for verification. Well, in Connecticut a "county" is nothing more than a name on a map or an organizational method. It's not an actual government entity, there's no one to contact.
- ghaff 9y agoHeh. Yeah in New England (and I assume a lot of the rest of the US), counties are pretty vestigial. I think Massachusetts still has limited county governments in some cases but mostly they're just a legacy organizational scheme. On the other hand, when I lived in Louisiana, the parishes were an important level of government.
- pc86 9y agoHere in Pennsylvania counties play an important role in real estate, taxation, and dog licensure, but not much else.
- larrik 9y agoI'm under the impression that much of the country uses counties a lot. I know they are quite important in New York (my father owns property upstate). New England seems to be an anomaly there. Even Hawaii has county governments.
- ghaff 9y agoIn New England, it's probably at least partly that there is such a strong tradition of government at the town level. (Town halls and the like.) I've had friends who moved here from overseas and some of them were really amazed how every sleepy little town has its own town office, police, fire, school etc. Sometimes towns pool some things together but lots of things are town by town. Massachusetts does organize the judiciary (and some other things like deed registration) by county but in at least most cases, everyone is actually a state employee. Don't really know how it works in the country as a whole. My impression is that the South generally has more of a tradition of county government.
- bzbarsky 9y agoFor contrast, in Maryland counties are the school districts. At which point you need a county government, significant taxes, etc...
- ghaff 9y agoThe organization of schools plays a big role because, at least in many areas, that where most of the property taxes go. I don't know the exact numbers in my town but I think it's 80-90%. (Where schools are a combination of by town and a regional system with a couple of adjoining towns.)
- Larrikin 9y agoIn Virginia it's even worse. There are distinct counties, but we also have cities that are legally different and not contained in counties.
- mc32 9y agoIn some places they have "townships" or "towns" (Nassau county has like three such towns, i think) which are like a subdivision of a county, and some have some political structure and officers, but for most ordinary life they are totally ignored.