The Tri-State metro-region alone contains over 1 700 distinct units of government, each with its own set of revenue and service provision responsibilities and authorities; the Chicago-area 21-county region includes over 2 000 local governments; and the state of Illinois has the nation’s largest number of local governments, at 6 994 (US Bureau of the Census, 2007 and CMAP, 2010a). By international comparison, the Paris metro-region, which is known to be one of the most fragmented metropolitan areas in the OECD, includes a regional authority in addition to 1 281 cities and over 100 inter-municipal bodies. Local authorities in Greater London, in contrast, are composed of the Greater London Authority, 32 London boroughs, and the City of London.