This was the third year that ICMA offered an online version of the annual survey. In July 2003, paper surveys were mailed to all municipal and county governments with populations of 2,500 and above and to those under 2,500 that are recognized by ICMA as having a council-manager form of government or as providing for an appointed general management (chief administrative officer) position. The mail survey gave the URL for the online version and provided a unique identification number for the local government. A second paper survey was mailed to those local governments that had not responded to the first mailing or had not provided the information online. Of the 8,050 municipalities that received surveys, 4,172 responded (51.8 percent). This document presents aggregate survey results. Learn more about ICMA's survey research.