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The municipalities ((フィンランド語:kunta); (スウェーデン語:kommun)) represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental, self-governing administrative units of the country. The entire country is incorporated into municipalities and legally, all municipalities are equal, although certain municipalities are called cities or towns ((フィンランド語:kaupunki); (スウェーデン語:stad)). Municipalities have the right to levy a flat percentual income tax, which is between 16 and 22 percent, and they provide two thirds of public services. Municipalities control many community services, such as schools, health care and the water supply, and local streets. They do not maintain highways, set laws or keep police forces — these tasks are the responsibility of the central government. ==Government== Municipalities have council-manager government, i.e. they are governed by an elected council (, ), which is legally autonomous and answers only to the voters. The size of the council is proportional to the population, the extremes being 9 in Sottunga and 85 in Helsinki. A subsection of the council, the municipal executive board (''kunnanhallitus''), controls the municipal government and monitors the implementation of decisions of the council. Its decisions must be prepared by the council. Unlike national cabinets, its composition is derived from the composition of the council, not along government-opposition lines. Furthermore, individual decisions are prepared in specialized municipal boards (''lautakunta'') for a council meeting; these include e.g. zoning, social assistance, and education boards. Council, executive board and board membership is responsible position, not a full-time job. Municipal managers (, for cities, , for other municipalities) are civil servants named by the council. The city manager of Helsinki is called / "Lord Mayor" for historical reasons. There were previously no mayors in Finland, but after a change in law, Tampere was first city to elect a mayor (/) in 2007. The mayor is not, however, currently elected directly, but by the municipal council. The mayor acts as municipal manager and as a speaker of municipal council. Although municipalities do not have police or legislative powers, local ordinances concerning traffic can be set, and municipal parking inspectors can give parking tickets. Municipalities are legal persons and can appear in an administrative court. Likewise, the state of Finland is a separate legal person. Excluding judicial review of formal compliance to administrative law, municipalities are independent and not a part of a local state hierarchy. Municipalities cooperate in regions of Finland. State agencies have jurisdictions spanning one or more regions: each region is served by an ''ely-keskus'' (''elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus'') on matters of employment, the economy, transport and environment, while law and environmental enforcement is handled by the local ''aluehallintovirasto'', governing multi-region jurisdictions termed ''alue''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Municipalities of Finland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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