Municipal Divisions of the Governate of East Florida
The government of the
Governate of East Florida (Spanish:
La Gobernación de la Florida Oriental) is divided into three-tiers: the realm-wide government; the provincial governments; and the local governments. The realm-wide government represents the highest tier of authority in East Florida and is led by the Lord-Governor of the realm with jurisdiction over the entirety of the realm's territory. In addition, the
Capital District of San Agustín (coterminous with
San Agustín, the city) is also part of the realm-wide government. The realm judiciary, executive and legislative branches are all located within the Capital District (C.D.). The next level of government found in East Florida are the twelve provinces:
Bahía del Espíritu Santo; Costa Bella; Costa de Palmas; Gran Léon; Los Lagos; Naranja; Narvaez; Pascua; San Juan Exterior; San Juan Interior; Santa Fe; and Santa Isabela. East Florida's provinces are equivalent to first-level subdivisions found in other governates within the confederation, like the
counties of Transylvania. Each province is led by a
Provincial-Governor who maintains nominal authority within the boundaries of the province from a designated provincial capital. The provincial governments also over see the provincial judiciary systems and maintain
Provincial Assemblies of varying sizes which work with the Provincial-Governors. The provisional governments have the most authority in the capital cities and across the non-incorporated regions of their respective provinces, deemed
Provincially Managed Zones (PMZs) - PMZs lack local governments. The third tier of governance in East Florida are the local governments that represent the varying levels of incorporated municipalities found within the realm.
There are three forms of incorporated local governance found across East Florida, which are the
Provincial Capitals, Cities (principal and secondary), Towns (principal or secondary), and
Incorporated Villages. In addition, there are a number of areas designated as
Unincorporated Units, which lack incorporation but which remain outside of the direct domain of the provincial governments. The twelve Provincial Capitals (PCs) are home to the respective provincial governments, while also hosting their own government structure - in addition to hosting the Provincial-Governor and Provincial Assembly, each PC also elects an Executive Management Council (EMC) to oversee the affairs of the city itself. The EMC shares its authority over the PCs with the provincial government and the PCs, like the Incorporated Villages, lack mayors. The other levels of incorporation depend largely on population, history, and overall governance structure. A municipality is recognized as a city in East Florida if its population exceeds 75,000 individuals, with cities with populations greater than 120,000 considered
principal cities and those with less considered
secondary cities.
Cities (
Spanish: Ciudades), both principal and secondary, have the most autonomy from the provisional governments, each led by a mayor and a representative assembly. The autonomy of cities, especially principal cities, from their provisional governments varies but is typically high and most only become subject to provisional authority under emergency situations.
Towns (
Spanish: Pueblos), like cities are separated into primary and secondary-levels based on population. A community is recognized as a town if it has a population of at least 10,000, with East Florida designating primary towns as those with populations greater than 40,000. Towns are also led by mayors, but do not have robust "assemblies" like the cities - instead, they have smaller, municipal councils, none larger than 12 members. Like cities, towns are also relatively autonomous from direct action from the provincial governments in most cases.
Villages (
Spanish: Aldeas) are the least autonomous form of incorporation found in East Florida, and are typically low in population (but not strictly held to precise population numbers). Unlike cities and towns, villages lack mayors, however they do have municipal councils. Most villages are subordinate in some respect to a neighboring town, city, or the provincial government itself. Most villages have small populations, particularly those disconnected from a higher-tiered municipal division, however villages within or connected to towns or cities may have populations exceeding 10,000. In these instances, the usual reason said village exists is due to a successful plea for incorporation by distinct, homogenous neighborhoods of a larger municipality (
see Village of Mariposa, which separated from the city of Nuevo Léon in the mid-20th century).
Unincorporated Units (UUs) are the newest recognized municipal division within the realm. These are areas that are not directly run by the provincial government, but lack a centralized local government structure. They have no mayors, and though most have local associations that may resemble municipal councils, they lack actual municipal councils with jurisdictional authority. UUs, however, can form their own policing and fire/disaster response services, and can make an array of decisions by popular mandates - these are typically organized by the aforementioned local associations that form in UUs. As previously mentioned, any territory within a province that is neither incorporated nor recognized as a UU, is organized as a PMZ directly managed by the provincial governments. The vast majority of East Florida's territory falls within a PMZ.
There are 223 incorporated municipalities in East Florida - San Agustín (city); the 12 provincial capitals; 42 cities (
13 primary/29 secondary); 111 towns (
61 primary/50 secondary) and 57 villages. In addition, there are 55 recognized unincorporated units.