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Local government inNew Hampshire consists of county, school district, and municipal governments.
There are 10counties in the state of New Hampshire responsible for localsheriff services,nursing homes, andprisons. Each county is governed by a board of commissioners.[1] Similar to the rest ofNew England, county governments in New Hampshire are weak and have relatively few responsibilities compared to states in other regions. Most local government functions are performed at the town and city level.
New Hampshire contains 235incorporated towns and cities. Thirteen are cities and 222 are towns.[2] Towns and cities are treated identically under state law. The primary difference is that cities are former towns who dropped thetown meeting form of government in favor of a city form through special act of theNew Hampshire General Court. Since 1979, however, any town or city can change its form of government by creation of a new charter and voter approval of the new municipal charter. Cities and towns are nominally divisions of the state. However, as in the rest of New England, the laws governing their authority are very broadly construed.
Collectively, these 234 municipalities cover the vast majority of, but not all of, the state's territory. There are some unincorporated areas in the sparsely populated northern region of the state. Most of the unincorporated areas are inCoos County, the state's northernmost county.Carroll andGrafton counties also contain small amounts of unincorporated territory. This territory includes unincorporated townships, some of which are known as grants, purchases and locations. Thornton Gore is part of the town ofThornton. The remaining seven counties in the state are entirely incorporated (Grafton County was also fully incorporated at one time, but lost that status whenthe town of Livermore disincorporated). Fewer than 250 of the state's residents live in unincorporated areas.
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