A metro township is a type of

municipal government A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

equivalent to a

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, and Wisconsin to ref ...

. These were first allowed in Utah starting in 2015 (per Senate Bill 199 – the Community Preservation Act) both to allow existing unincorporated communities to avoid piecemeal annexation, and to give those residents some say in local government, without creating additional government overhead. While each metro township has a mayor and township council, and manage a budget, and cannot be annexed without its permission, its powers of taxation are limited, and must contract with other municipalities and/or municipal shared-service districts for most municipal services (police, for example). The five metro townships – all located in

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

– are Kearns, Magna, Copperton, Emigration Canyon and

White City White City may refer to: Places Australia * White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore * White City railway station, a former railway station * White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney * White City FC, a football clu ...

References

U.S. Board on Geographic NamesU.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line
{{U.S. civil townships *

Townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Local government in the United States