Planning notes [Number 7, 23 March 1960]

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Notes
Number   7
For  Greeturburgher**
Department of Planning, City of Greensboro, North Carolina
23   March   I960
MUNICIPAL    SERVICES ***!
Many reasons have been documented to explain the age-old attraction that urban areas hold for
their inhabitants. Significant among these is the fact
that the mere clustering of large numbers of people
in a city makes possible and necessary, a wide range
of services, facilities, and conveniences that can be
justified and financed under no other circumstances.
Such services and conveniences differ widely in kind
and extent from community to community. There is
also wide variation in the methods and types of organizations chosen to supply them. Because of innumerable variations and the complex patterns established by precedent, the analysis and projection of a
community's present and future array of services and
conveniences becomes a singularly unique undertaking for each individual case.
Any examination of the services and conveniences furnished to the public by a municipal corporation leads us immediately to search for fundamental reasons that will justify any and all such functions.
In some cases the rendition of a public service by use
of public funds has a long record of continuous operation so that it is accepted because of established
precedent. In other cases the service may be of comparatively recent orgin and we are inclined to a more
searching analysis of its claim upon the public till.
In the past there has been a traditional classification, particularly familiar to some members of
the legal profession, which attempts to place all services rendered by local governments into two groups.
The first is called the "necessary governmental functions" and presumably includes those activities and
services which somehow must be performed by the
local government if organized society is to continue
to prevail in the countryside. The second of these
two is called the "proprietary functions" which apparently includes any other governmental activity not
within the scope of the first group. The title of the
first   group   would    seem   to   imply   a   finality   which
would establish the services so rendered as being absolutely essential, fixed and unchanging for all local
governments. Closer examination of these services
reveals quite the contrary. It may be concluded that
the designation "necessary governmental functions"
is actually a myth, or at best a convenient cliche designed to serve other objectives.
Currently, there exists in North Carolina a
list, of sometimes variable length, that is presumed
to include all necessary governmental functions. A
brief review of the history of such functions reveals
that many were, at one time, not considered "to be
necessary governmental functions and, in fact, were
performed privately either individually or through
corporate effort without benefit of public funds. Many
services currently being rendered under the shield of
the "necessary governmental function" might conceivably be rendered by private corporations, under
franchise in some cases, and with no more than
superficial regulation by governmental authorities.
The almost universal municipal service of fire protection was at one time no part of any city government. When fire companies did exist, they were organized on a volunteer basis and, in some instances,
under the direction of insurance companies. Subsequent experience has apparently proven that this service is rendered most satisfactorily as a function of
municipal government. Water supply and sewage disposal were not, and in some cases still are not, a
part of the local governmental services, although
they are regarded as necessary governmental functions. Similar situations exist with respect to nearly all  governmental   services.
At an earlier date, many cities and towns in
North Carolina operated municipal abattoirs and it
may be assumed that this was thought to be a necessary governmental function. Today, Greensboro
no longer performs this function and other communities   have   likewise   abandoned  the   operation.    Cur-