Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1954-07-28
BY FELIX A. GRISETTE

III one SubScribeS to the theory
that minimum of governmental
units is desirable, North Carolina.
is far ahead of the rest of the
United States. If not, the reverse
is true. Only in county units of
government can it be said that
North Carolina has more than the
rest of the country. 1t may be news
to many North CarolinianS that
there are only 608 units of govern
ment in North Carolina, including
counties, municipalities, districts,
and all. BY way of contrast, there
are ll6,743 such units in the Unit
cd States.
What are these units in North
Carolina? To begin with, of course,
there are our 100 counties. There
are also 40l municipalities in
North Carolina, or &c per cent of
all 608 governmental units. AL
though municipalities throughout
the country as whole account for
only IA per cent of the govern
iiISilbcl LNol Ill
makes better showing assuming
fewer units to be better) than the
country as a whole in terms of
population. There is municipality
in North Carolina for every 1929
persons, whereas the comparable
figure for the United States is one
for every 1881 persons. North Car
DINA has LOG special districts, or
ID per cent of all units. There are
$4,000 such units in the United
States, which comprise IL per cent
of the total units for the country
as a whole.
Despite the fact that they are
frequently referred to as govern
mental units. townships and public
school districts are not classified
by census authorities as units OF
government in North Carolina
Townships no longer perform gov
ornamental functions in this state
and the governmental functions Of
school districts are assumed BY
our county and municipal govern
ments. For the country as a whole
townships and school districts
comprise almost three-fourths (72
per cent? of all governmental
units.
Columbus county ranks high a.
mong the counties of the State in
the number of governmental units
within its border, having 10, the
county itself, eight municipalities
and one special district The NUM-
CAPABILITIES are Bolton. Chadbourn
Fair Bluff, Delco, Tabor City, Lake
Waccamaw, Brunswick and White
vile. There are three other incor
porated towns in the county but
they do not have active municipal
governmental bodies: Acme. Ger
70 Gordo and Evergreen. Pitt lead.
all the counties in the number o.
local units of government with II
AT the other extreme. there are
three countieS-Camden. Curri
tuck and Hyde-in which there i
no municipality al all.
Columbus is not one of the olde
of the States counties. having beef
formed in 1908 from Baden an,
Brunswick, and named in homo
of Christopher Columbus. 1t is tn
third largest county in the State
IFS area of 939 square miles bein
second only to Sampson (96
square mileS) and Robson 81
square miles. Chowan is the small
est county, having an area of onl
100 square miles.
In county units Of government
North Carolina has them in abund
ance, an even 100. which is 16 pc
cent OF all governmental unit.
The comparable percentage for tn
country as whole is three. Their
are 10 counties in North Carolin
which must share their towns an
cities with other counties. Tn
best known example of an inter