A Statutarstadt (also called a city with its own statute) is a city in Austria with its own municipal law or city statute. In Austria, a city can request this status if it has more than 20,000 inhabitants. After the state government and the Federal Government agree to grant the status, it is granted as long as it does not endanger any national interests. However, this is not always the case as there are smaller cities with this form of government known as Statutarstädte, which were granted this right previously for historical reasons. In particular, the cities of Eisenstadt and Rust, which belonged previously as free cities to the Kingdom of Hungary, retained their own city stautes in 1921. The Statutarstädte were called urban areas and were treated according to the German Gemeindeordnung during the period of German occupation, and as such were given no power over their own municipal constitution.
Besides local administration, the responsibilities of a Statutarstadt are to manage the district, which places the Staturstadt besides the municipal office as district administration authorities. The mayor is the head of the municipalitty as well as the head of the district administrative authority.
Statutarstadts in Austria are:
A similar concept in Germany is called Stadtkreis or Kreisfreie Stadt , but these Cities like e.g. München do not have a muncipial constitution - they use the Gemeindeordnung, a state law differing from Bundesland to Bundesland. In the englishspeaking world, a similar concept is known as independent city
Last updated: 08-05-2005 11:55:34
