Municipal Employee Residency Requirements

More than 100 large cities nationwide require their employees to live within city boundaries. But some of these laws have recently come under attack. Minnesota's state legislature has joined Michigan in passing a bill that forbids cities from enacting residency requirements. Residency opponents cite individual freedom of choice, while supporters refer to residency laws' positive effects on community. "The law worked," said Wes Skoglund, a Minnesota state representative from Minneapolis, in reference to his city's residency requirement enacted in 1994. "We started to see cops in church, in the supermarkets, at neighborhood meetings." A repeal of the law, he said, is "good for realtors, but bad for the city."

See an article on municipal employee residency requirements in the May 2000 issue of Governing

RULES:

• Municipal Employee Residency Requirements - Providence, RI
  No person shall be employed in any of the departments of the city government unless such person be a resident of the city. In case of an emergency or where the best interest of the city may so require, the head of any department may employ any person unrestricted by the within limitations for such time and under such conditions as shall be approved by the mayor in writing. More...