How is municipal government structured in Alaska?
Alaska’s municipal government structure has just cities and organized boroughs. City government is a community-based entity, while boroughs provide services on a regional basis. Cities and boroughs are organized as either home rule municipalities, which can exercise any power not prohibited by state or federal law or by the home rule charter; or general law municipalities, which derive their powers from state statutes. (Note: Unified municipalities are treated as boroughs in statute and regulation.) A city government is a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Alaska. It generally exercises its powers within an established boundary that normally encompasses a single community. Under the state’s constitution, a city is also part of the borough in which it is located. An organized borough is a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Alaska that provides services and exercises powers on a regional basis. Organized boroughs are intermediate-
