In dealing with appropriations, however, the city council does not, in most cases, possess en tire discretion. The State laws require some appropriations to be made. The provisions of city charters sometimes provide, as in New York and Boston, that no changes by way of increase may be made by the council in the esti mates for appropriations submitted to it.
Borrowing on the city's credit is another matter over which the council has a measure of control. The initiative does not usually rest with the council but its assent is in all cases necessary before bonds can be issued. Here again, however, State constitutions and statutes have by the imposition of municipal debt limits restricted the liberty of the local authorities.
A second branch of the city council's legis lative jurisdiction lies in what is commonly known as the domain of the police power. Speaking broadly the council has the right, within the generous limits permitted by State laws, to enact ordinances designed to protect the lives, property, health and morals of the citizens. Within this category come ordinances regulating traffic in the streets, establishing rules for the prevention of fires, setting stand ards for building construction, providing sani tary regulations, rules governing the inspection of milk, the conduct of theatres and open places of amusement, the erection and maintenance of billboards and a great variety of other matters. It is true that in some cities the right to regu late some of these things has been taken from the council and given to the board of health or the police commission or to some other adminis trative board, but taking the cities of the country as a whole the council still possesses a wide range ofjurisdiction.
In the third place the city council usually has powers with respect to the granting of franchises to public service corporations which seek to acquire rights in the public streets. But in this field great inroads upon the council's freedom of action have been made by the State in recent years. Most of the States have es tablished public service commissions or public utilities boards and to these bodies much au thority with reference to the terms of franchises has been entrusted. The power of city councils to grant and determine franchises at will is a thing of the past. The assent of some State authority or the approval of its action by a referendum to the voters is now a requirement in most cities. Nevertheless the council retains
some powers in this field and they are of not inconsiderable importance.
And where a city itself owns and operates any public service such as the water supply or the lighting plant, the council has ordinarily the power to regulate by ordinance the terms and incidents of the service. The immediate man agement is not commonly in the council's hands, but the direction of general policy is controlled by it in most cases.
All these things and many others are deter mined by the provisions of ordinances which the council has power to enact. In addition to the specific limitations imposed by State law, however, there are certain general restrictions which apply to all ordinances. Ordinances to be valid must be reasonable; they must not make unfair discriminations, and they must not be unwarrantably in restraint of trade. What ever the council's powers they must be exercised within the limits set by their general rules.
(b) Administrative powers. City councils are not administrative bodies, and strictly speak ing they should possess no administrative func tions. Nevertheless they do in most cities possess powers of this sort and in some of them powers of importance. Some administrative ap pointments are still made by city councils; the city clerk, for example, is frequently so selected. In various cities the council's concurrence is necessary before appointments made by the mayor become valid. Its consent, moreover, is sometimes required for the award of contracts, for the acquisition of land when needed for parks or public buildings, and for changes in the organization of city departments or in the salaries of municipal officials. Usually it may investigate any branch of the city administra tion. And even in the absence of actual juris diction over administrative matters the council's control of the city's purse-strings necessarily gives it at least a substantial influence in this field.
American city councils hive been shorn of many powers but they still retain others of high importance. The tendency dur ing the last half century has been to strengthen the executive branch of municipal government at the expense of the city legislature. In dif ferent cities this tendency has had varying degrees of strength ; accordingly in no two cities of the land have city councils exactly the same jurisdiction. In some they retain much more than in others. See CITIES, AMERICAN, GOVERN