Georgia has 159 counties, and each and every one of them has a government. A county is a subdivision of a state set up for certain governmental functions. Most Georgia counties are set up in a similar manner. They all are run by an elected Board of Commissioners.
Some city/county governments share common services. For example, Fulton County is home to Atlanta, but they both share a common library system. Another example is DeKalb's and Fulton's hospital authority. Most counties have commissioners, Superior court Clerk, Probate court Judge, Sheriff, Tax Commissioner, coroner. These are elected officials. More officials such as county clerk, fire chief, road supervisor, emergency management director, attorney, planning and building inspector are all appointed officials.
City Government
There are 3 forms of City Government. They are Mayor-Council, Council-Manager, and City Commission.
A Mayor-Council involves the Mayor and the Council. Both are elected. There are 2 systems in this form of Government. They are Strong-Mayor system and Weak-Mayor System. A Weak-Mayor system is a system in which the Mayor is mainly a figurehead. He/she has very little power. A Strong Mayor system is a system in which the mayor has the power to run the city, propose a budget, and veto the council.
The next form is the Council-manager. The council-manager is a system in which voters elect council members. A mayor may be elected or appointed. A council hires a city manager for day-to-day operation of the city.
The last form is City Commission. This is a system where voters pick commissioners. The elected commissioners form the department heads of the city. The mayor is chosen by the commissioners.
There are some cases where city and county governments merge together to help save money. Some examples are Athens-Clarke County and Augusta-Richmond County.
Special County Districts
Special purpose districts are created to accomplish a certain task. Other than a few restrictions from the government, these are self governing. Some examples are school districts, MARTA, and Georgia Ports Authority.