Municipio (Mexico)

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A municipio (Spanish for "municipality") is one of the two types of second level municipality in Mexico. Each of Mexico's 31 states is divided into a variable number of municipios, ranging from five in Baja California and Baja California Sur to 570 in Oaxaca. The Mexican municipios can be compared to the counties of the United States, although the local municipal government (ayuntamiento), headed by a presidente municipal ("municipal president"), can be more usefully compared to that of a city mayor in the United States.

1 History
2 Responsibilites
3 Budget
4 Largest municipios
- 4.1 By population
- 4.2 By area
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The first reference to the municipio as a national subdivision was mentioned during the Second Mexican Empire when Mexico was divided in departamentos, these in distritos and these in municipios.

The Mexican constitution of 1917 created the concept of the municipio libre ("free municipality") in its 115th and 116th articles to decentralize the government and allow communities to govern themselves. This spirit of communal government was inherited from the concept of the Roman municipium of antiquity applied during Spanish colonial rule in Mexico. The 115th article was modified in 1983 to expand the municipio's authority to raise revenue and formulate budgets.

[edit] Responsibilites

The ayuntamientos are responsible for public services (such as water and sewerage), street lighting, public safety, traffic, supervision of slaughterhouses and the cleaning and maintenance of public parks, gardens and cemeteries. Municipios may also assist the state and federal governments in education, emergency fire and medical services, environmental protection and maintenance of monuments and historical landmarks.

[edit] Budget

Municipios can collect property taxes and user fees although more funds are obtained from the state and federal governments than from their own collection efforts.

[edit] Largest municipios

[edit] By population

Data from the Conteo 2005 by INEGI:

Ranking	State	Municipio	Population
1	México	Ecatepec de Morelos	1,688,258
2	Jalisco	Guadalajara	1,600,940
3	Puebla	Puebla	1,485,941
4	Baja California	Tijuana	1,410,700
5	Guanajuato	León	1,254,626
6	Chihuahua	Juárez	1,218,817
7	México	Nezahualcóyotl	1,140,528
8	Jalisco	Zapopan	1,155,790
9	Nuevo León	Monterrey	1,133,814