The Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association play in the ARCO Arena. The city has a daily newspaper, The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento has a council-manager form of government. The people elect a mayor and eight other members of the city council to four-year terms. The council hires a city manager to serve as the administrative head of the city government.
Property taxes provide about one-third of Sacramento's income.
Utility and sales taxes are other important revenue sources. In 1839, a group of settlers led by John A. Sutter, a Swiss pioneer, established a colony along the American River. It was the first white settlement in inland California, then controlled by Mexico. In the 1840's, his fort was the western terminal for wagon trains of pioneers. In 1848, the discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill drew thousands of fortune seekers to the area.