There are some cities which, by state law, are independent cities. They are not part of any county. This seems to be a difficult concept for prople in states which don't have independent cities.

As others have said, Baltimore and St. Louis are prominent examples of independent cities. As far as I know, they are the only independent cities in Maryland and Missouri respectively.

What really blows the minds of outlanders is Virginia's system of independent cities. In Virginia, there are three types of local govenrment entities. There are counties. There are towns, which are part of the counties within which they are physically located, just like towns and cities in other states. No problem so far. Then there are independent cities, which ARE NOT PART OF ANY COUNTY. This is a hard concept for out-of-staters to grasp. It leads to conversations like this:

DUDE FROM CALIFORNIA: What county is the property in?

ME: It's in the City of Lynchburg.

DUDE FROM CALIFORNIA: What county is Lynchburg in?

ME: It's not in any county!!!!!

DUDE FROM CALIFORNIA: But it's gotta be in a county.

ME: No, it's an independent city. It's not a part of any county.

DUDE FROM CALIFORNIA: Huh? (Thinking: Jeez, I'm talking some ignorant hillbilly!)

There are independent cities in Virginia with populations as small a 5 or 6 thousand people. (And there are towns with much larger populations.)

To further complicate things, some smaller cities share clerks' (recorders') offices with adjacent counties. So deeds for the City of Bedford and Bedford County are in the same office, and indexed together, as are the City of Covington and Alleghany County. But their assessors' offices and all other local offices are separate. Taxes, zoning, subdivision, all separate. And recorded douments must clearly state whether the property is in the city or the county so that local recording taxes can be distributed correctly..

There are counties and cities with similar names. This isn't too bad with Roanoke County and Roanoke City, for example, which are adjacent. But Richmond County is 60 or 70 miles from Richmond City, and Franklin County is 150 miles from Franklin City. On top of that, Franklin City does not have its own clerk's office, but shares Southampton County's.

It can be pretty hard to get somebody in Boise or Bangalore to understand this stuff. There are even more ramifications that I will not get into now. This sort of thing is yet another reason why there is no substitute for people with local knowledge.


to post a reply: login - or - register