Talk:Reading, Michigan

City cf. Village cf. Township cf. Charter Township
I have noticed a lot of confusion about the basic legal differences between cities, villages, townships, and charter townships.

In Michigan as in all other states, a county is an administrative division of the state; and a township is an administrative division of a county. In Louisiana, counties are called 'parishes' while in Alaska they are called 'boroughs.' In New York, the terms 'town' and 'township' are reversed from their common use in the rest of the country. That is, what Michigan calls a 'township,' New York calls a 'town'; and what California calls a 'town,' New York calls a 'township'.

Uniquely, Michigan has an administrative division called a 'charter township' (since 1947). A charter township is self-governing without county oversight of its operations. Unlike a general law township, a charter township does not have to acceded to requests from neighbouring cities that might request to annex portions of its land.

Because townships (and charter townships) are administrative divisions of a county, they cannot cross county lines.

A city is a municipal corporation that is not part of any township. It operates without county or state oversight but reports to state government through the county or counties in which it is located. Because cities are fully autonomous jurisdictions within a state, their boundaries can cross county lines. The City of Milan, for example, is partly in Washtenaw County and partly in Monroe County.

A village is a municipal corporation that, unlike a city, is part of the township or townships in which it is located. Because they operate with a degree of autonomy, villages can cross township lines and can cross county lines. Prior to 1967, for example, the City of Milan was the Village of Milan. The north side of the Village of Milan was located in York Township, Washtenaw County, and the south side was located in Milan Township, Monroe County. The Village of Milan was the seat of government for York Township and the seat of government for Milan Township - in addition, of course, to being the headquarters for the Village of Milan's own government.

When Milan became a city, however, it could no longer serve as the seat of government for either York or Milan townships, because it was no longer part of either township. Cities are completely separate from townships under Michigan law, and townships have absolutely no jurisdiction over land that is located within a city's corporate limits.

There is another geographic jurisdiction in Michigan that is similar to a county - the state university. Under the Michigan Constitution, state universities are autonomous jurisdictions that not legally located within any county, township, or city. They operate as special purpose administrative divisions of the state. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.88.94.85 (talk) 11:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)