| The municipalities (kunta in
Finnish, kommun in
Swedish) represent the local level of administration in
Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country. Municipalities have the right to levy a flat percentual
tax, which is between 16 and 20 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. Municipalities have
council-manager government, i.e. they are governed by an elected council (kunnanvaltuusto, kommunfullmäktige), 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. Municipal managers (kaupunginjohtaja, stadsdirektör for cities, kunnanjohtaja, kommunsdirektör for other municipalities) are
civil servants named by the council. There are no
mayors in the English sense in Finland, although the city manager of Helsinki is called ylipormestari/överborgmästare "Lord Mayor" for historical reasons. The government has recently made a law proposal that would allow municipal councils to elect mayors.
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