Mayors are the central executives of cities, right? That means they’re the boss, right? Well, usually but not always. Mayoral power, like legislative power, is dependent upon the type of government the city uses.
Still, regardless of the exact powers of mayors, there are a handful of duties that carry across each government form. Mayors chair city meetings, sign contracts on behalf of the city and generally act as the city’s cultural figurehead.
As such, a city’s reputation is inevitably tied to the behavior of the person in the office, and mayors play an indelible role in advocating for a community’s interests at higher jurisdictions, such as the state and federal governments.
Mayors always serve four-year terms.
Mayoral powers
Local governments in Northern Kentucky are split into three types: mayor-council governments (also known as strong mayor governments), city manager governments and commissions. Mayor-council governments are the most common, both in NKY and the commonwealth generally. There are other types of governments throughout the state, but only those three are at play in NKY.
Consult the table below to find out which type of government operates in your city.
When most people think of mayors, they probably envision the role they play under the mayor-council form of government. There’s a reason these governments are also called the strong mayor form of government, because under this form, executive authority is centralized in the mayoral seat.
The mayor-council model most closely resembles the division of powers at the state and national level – a city council acts as the city legislature and votes on laws. City councils in Kentucky can have between six and 12 council members, a number that’s set by local law. The mayor, meanwhile, acts as the central executive. In this system, mayors don’t usually vote on laws, except to break a tie among the council members. The mayor does, however, have the power to veto laws, but, in truth, this occurs rarely. A council can override a mayor’s veto with enough votes.
Mayor-council governments are not required to have administrative officers, like city managers or city administrators, but many of the larger cities will appoint a full time administrator anyway because elected positions usually aren’t full time. Administrative officers are responsible for managing the day-to-day work of running the city, but lack formal voting power.
One key power that mayors have under a mayor-council form they don’t have under other forms of government is “absolute hiring and disciplinary authority over every position except for non-elected officials,” said Morgain Patterson, director of municipal law at the Kentucky League of Cities. “In that instance, the non-elected officials would be appointed by the mayor and then the legislative body would ratify them.”
Non-elected officials include the city clerk, police and fire chiefs, and city administrative officers.
Pay and benefits for elected officials are set by local law. It’s usually not much, but there are some exceptions. Moreover, mayoral seats are usually not full-time positions, even under mayor-council form, where the mayor is expected to take more direct role in the running of the city.
Again, there are exceptions to this, such as Covington’s yet-to-be-implemented city council, which is set to take effect in 2027. The higher salary slated to take effect for Covington’s mayor in 2027 was deliberately implemented to attract people interested in taking on the role full-time.
Under the other two forms of government in Northern Kentucky, the commission and city manager forms, executive power is deliberately diffused between a body of legislator-executives called a commission or board of commissioners, respectively.
This strips mayors of veto power and mandates they cast votes with the rest of the body. Personnel actions are also subject to votes from the body as a whole, rather than the will of the mayor. That means every staff vacancy, every contract, every budget change, every street naming, every equipment purchase, every public project is subject to a vote from the municipal body.
Under these forms, no branch of government has unilateral power. Since there’s no unilateral power in any branch under both the commission and city manager forms of government, that means that votes on government actions by the elected body occur more frequently than they do under the mayor-council form.
Want to learn more about some common quandaries that come up when talking about municipal governments in Kentucky? Check out the Kentucky League of Cities’ Legal FAQ page.