Key facts
4 years
Term of a Texas constable
Tex. Const. art. V, § 18
6 years
Term of a Pennsylvania constable
44 Pa.C.S. § 7111
3
Commissioners elected in each Pennsylvania county without a home-rule charter
Pa. Const. art. IX, § 4
County commissioners or supervisors
Most counties are run by an elected board, which may be called a board of commissioners, a board of supervisors or, in Texas, the commissioners court. The board handles county business, such as services and spending. In Pennsylvania counties without a home-rule CharterA document, adopted under state law, that sets up a local government’s structure and powers. In Pennsylvania, voters adopt or change a home rule charter by referendum.Read more in the glossary or optional plan, voters elect 3 commissioners for 4-year terms. Each Texas county elects 4 commissioners, one per precinct, and the county judge presides. Some counties also have a county executive, who may be elected or appointed.
City council members
A city or town council is the local lawmaking body. It passes local laws, called ordinances, and adopts the budget. Members may be elected at large by the whole city, by DistrictAn area set up for a purpose, such as the area whose voters elect one representative or the area a school district or other special district serves.Read more in the glossary, or by a mix of both. In some places, the council hires a professional manager to run daily operations. In others, a separately elected mayor runs the government and can VetoA president’s or governor’s formal rejection of a bill passed by a legislature. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote of the members voting in each chamber.Read more in the glossary council decisions.
School board members
A school board sets policy for a public School districtA local government that runs public schools in a set area. In some places, public schools are run instead by a city, county, town or state agency.Read more in the glossary. It usually hires the superintendent, who runs the schools day to day, and it controls the district’s budget. Some school boards can also levy school taxes. Most school board members are elected by voters in the district, but some boards are appointed, for example by a mayor or by state officials. In Pennsylvania, elected school directors serve 4-year terms.
Constables and other county offices
Constables serve in some states, and how they are chosen varies. Texas elects a constable in each justice precinct for a 4-year term. Pennsylvania elects constables for 6-year terms, and certified constables carry out court-related duties. In Massachusetts cities that accept the state law, the mayor appoints constables. Counties may also have a clerk, recorder of deeds, treasurer, assessor or coroner, elected in some places and appointed in others.
Who answers to whom
Each official answers to a different authority. A mayor answers to the municipality’s voters or council and works with the council. An elected sheriff answers to county voters, and courts direct the sheriff’s court work. A magistrate works inside the court system and follows its rules. In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court oversees how magisterial districts are drawn. To learn how an office works where you live, look up the municipal charter, the county’s website or the state’s court system.
County officers shall consist of commissioners, controllers or auditors, district attorneys, public defenders, treasurers, sheriffs, registers of wills, recorders of deeds, prothonotaries, clerks of the courts, and such others as may from time to time be provided by law.
Questions people ask
Who sets local property tax rates?
Is a constable the same everywhere?
Who hires the school superintendent?
Sources
Checked November 4, 2026. Primary sources first, then official records, then nonpartisan research.
How these facts were checked: our promise. Every substantive fix is listed on the corrections page.
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