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ASamtgemeinde (German pronunciation:['zamtgəˌmaɪndə]ⓘ,lit. 'collective municipality'; plural:Samtgemeinden) is a type ofadministrative division inLower Saxony,Germany.Samtgemeinden arelocal government associations ofmunicipalities, equivalent to theÄmter inSchleswig-Holstein,Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, andBrandenburg, and theVerbandsgemeinden inRhineland-Palatinate.
ASamtgemeinde is agovernment body composed of a collective association ofgemeinden (municipalities), the lowest level of official territorial division in Germany.Samtgemeinden were introduced in Lower Saxony on 4 March 1955 upon the adoption of the Lower Saxony Municipal Code (Niedersächsische Gemeindeordnung), which was based onBritish administrative structures at the time. According to §71 paragraph 1 Lower Saxony law on local government, aSamtgemeinde should have at least 7,000 inhabitants. Approximately 80% of the municipalities in Lower Saxony have united toSamtgemeinden.
TheSamtgemeinde executes manylocal government administrative duties for its member municipalities, includingland use planning,wastewater disposal,social security, organisation ofcemeteries andfire stations, sponsorship ofelementary schools, the construction of local connecting roads, equipment and entertainment oflibraries, sports sites and otherpublic utilities.[1]Samtgemeinden can take over other tasks of the member municipalities, for instance,tourism.
The termSamtgemeinde (plural:Samtgemeinden) is aneologism consisting of theGermanadjectivesgesamt (whole, entire, all, complete, total, aggregate, collective, overall, general, joint, united) orzusammen (together, jointly) and thenounGemeinde (municipality).Samtgemeinde can be translated into English as "joint municipal association" or "collective municipal association" but one-to-one translation is hardly possible.
The termSammtgemeinden (at that time written with double m) was originally used for low-level administrative units inPrussia during a short-lived reform that saw the reorganization ofparishes between 1850 and 1853.
Samtgemeinden have three organs:
TheSamtgemeinde committee consists of theSamtgemeinde mayor (the chairman of the committee), and according to size of the council from four to ten assistants and the council can decide a rise by two (§56 paragraph 2 local government law). These positions are distributed among the factions and groups in the council according to thelargest remainder method.
