Article 115 Political Constitution of the United Mexican States

The states shall adopt, for their internal regime, the republican, representative, democratic, secular and popular form of government, having as the basis of their territorial division and of their political and administrative organization the free municipality, in accordance with the following bases:

I.Each Municipality shall be governed by a City Council of direct popular election, made up of a Municipal President, a trusteeship (sindicatura) and up to fifteen council seats (regidurías), in accordance with the principles of vertical and horizontal gender parity, gender perspective and substantive equality in the access to, integration of and exercise of municipal public power. In no case may the person who has or has had in the last three years prior to the day of the election a bond of marriage or concubinage or de facto union, or of kinship by consanguinity or civil in the direct line without limitation of degree and in the collateral line up to the fourth degree or by affinity up to the second degree, with the person who is exercising the office for which he or she is a candidate, participate in the election for the municipal presidency, the council seats and the trusteeships. The jurisdiction that this Constitution grants to the municipal government shall be exercised by the City Council exclusively and there shall be no intermediate authority whatsoever between it and the government of the State.

The Constitutions of the States must establish the prohibition of consecutive reelection for the same office of municipal presidents, council members and trustees of the city councils. The public officials mentioned above, when they have the character of principals, may not be elected for the immediate term with the character of substitutes, but those who have the character of substitutes may be elected for the immediate term as principals unless they have been in office.

The local Legislatures, by agreement of two thirds of their members, may suspend city councils, declare that they have disappeared and suspend or revoke the mandate of any of their members, for any of the serious causes that the local law provides, provided that their members have had sufficient opportunity to submit the evidence and make (sic DOF 03-02-1983) the arguments that in their judgment are appropriate.

If any of the members ceases to perform his or her office, he or she shall be replaced by his or her substitute, or proceedings shall be carried out as provided by law.

In the event that a City Council is declared to have disappeared or by resignation or absolute absence of the majority of its members, if in accordance with the law it is not appropriate for the substitutes to take office or for new elections to be held, the legislatures of the States shall appoint from among the residents the Municipal Councils that shall complete the respective periods; these Councils shall be made up of the number of members determined by law, who must meet the eligibility requirements established for the council members;

II.The municipalities shall be vested with legal personality and shall manage their patrimony in accordance with the law.

The city councils shall have the power to approve, in accordance with the laws on municipal matters that the legislatures of the States must issue, the police and government edicts, the regulations, circulars and administrative provisions of general observance within their respective jurisdictions, that organize the municipal public administration, regulate the matters, procedures, functions and public services of their competence and ensure citizen and neighborhood participation.

The purpose of the laws referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be to establish:

a)The general bases of the municipal public administration and of the administrative procedure, including the means of challenge and the organs to settle the controversies between said administration and private individuals, subject to the principles of equality, publicity, hearing and legality;

b)The cases in which the agreement of two thirds of the members of the city councils is required to issue resolutions that affect the municipal real estate patrimony or to enter into acts or agreements that commit the Municipality for a term longer than the period of the City Council;

c)The rules of general application to enter into the agreements referred to both in sections III and IV of this article, and in the second paragraph of section VII of article 116 of this Constitution;

d)The procedure and conditions for the state government to assume a municipal function or service when, in the absence of the corresponding agreement, the state legislature considers that the municipality in question is unable to exercise or provide them; in this case, a prior request from the respective city council shall be required, approved by at least two thirds of its members; and

e)The provisions applicable in those municipalities that do not have the corresponding edicts or regulations.

The state legislatures shall issue the rules that establish the procedures by which the conflicts that arise between the municipalities and the state government, or among the former, by reason of the acts derived from subparagraphs c) and d) above, shall be resolved;

III.The Municipalities shall have charge of the following functions and public services:

a)Potable water, drainage, sewerage, treatment and disposal of their wastewater;

b)Public lighting.

c)Cleaning, collection, transfer, treatment and final disposal of waste;

d)Markets and supply centers.

e)Cemeteries.

f)Slaughterhouse.

g)Streets, parks and gardens and their equipment;

h)Public security, in the terms of article 21 of this Constitution, municipal preventive police and traffic; and

i)The others that the local Legislatures determine according to the territorial and socio-economic conditions of the Municipalities, as well as their administrative and financial capacity.

Without prejudice to their constitutional jurisdiction, in the performance of the functions or the provision of the services under their charge, the municipalities shall observe the provisions of the federal and state laws.

The Municipalities, upon prior agreement among their city councils, may coordinate and associate with one another for the most effective provision of the public services or the better exercise of the functions corresponding to them. In this case and in the case of the association of municipalities of two or more States, they must have the approval of the legislatures of the respective States. Likewise, when in the judgment of the respective city council it is necessary, they may enter into agreements with the State so that it, directly or through the corresponding organ, takes charge temporarily of some of them, or so that they are provided or exercised in a coordinated manner by the State and the municipality itself;

The Indigenous communities, within the municipal sphere, may coordinate and associate with one another in the terms and for the purposes that the law provides.

IV.The municipalities shall freely administer their treasury, which shall be formed from the yields of the assets belonging to them, as well as from the contributions and other revenues that the legislatures establish in their favor, and in all cases:

a)They shall receive the contributions, including additional rates, that the States establish on real property, on its subdivision, division, consolidation, transfer and improvement, as well as those that have as their base the change in value of the real property.

The municipalities may enter into agreements with the State so that it takes charge of some of the functions related to the administration of those contributions.

b)The federal participations, which shall be paid by the Federation to the Municipalities in accordance with the bases, amounts and terms that are annually determined by the Legislatures of the States.

c)The revenues derived from the provision of public services under their charge.

The federal laws shall not limit the power of the States to establish the contributions referred to in subparagraphs a) and c), nor shall they grant exemptions in relation to them. The state laws shall not establish exemptions or subsidies in favor of any person or institution with respect to said contributions. Only the assets in the public domain of the Federation, of the states (federal entities) or the Municipalities shall be exempt, unless such assets are used by parastatal entities or by private individuals, under any title, for administrative purposes or purposes different from those of their public object.

The city councils, within the scope of their competence, shall propose to the state legislatures the rates and fees applicable to taxes, duties, improvement contributions and the tables of unit values of land and constructions that serve as the basis for the collection of the contributions on real property.

The Legislatures of the States shall approve the revenue laws of the municipalities, and shall review and audit their public accounts. The expenditure budgets shall be approved by the city councils based on their available revenues, and they must include in them the itemized schedules of the remuneration received by the municipal public officials, subject to the provisions of article 127 of this Constitution.

The resources that make up the municipal treasury shall be exercised directly by the city councils, or by whomever they authorize, in accordance with the law;

V.The Municipalities, in the terms of the relative federal and State laws, shall be empowered to:

a)Formulate, approve and administer the zoning and municipal urban development plans, as well as the plans on matters of mobility and road safety;

b)Participate in the creation and administration of their territorial reserves;

c)Participate in the formulation of regional development plans, which must be in accordance with the general plans on the matter. When the Federation or the States prepare regional development projects they must ensure the participation of the municipalities;

d)Authorize, control and oversee the use of land, within the scope of their competence, in their territorial jurisdictions;

e)Take part in the regularization of the tenure of urban land;

f)Grant licenses and permits for constructions;

g)Participate in the creation and administration of ecological reserve zones and in the preparation and application of land-use planning programs on this matter;

h)Take part in the formulation and application of public passenger transport programs when those affect their territorial sphere; and

i)Enter into agreements for the administration and custody of the federal zones.

In what is pertinent and in accordance with the purposes indicated in the third paragraph of article 27 of this Constitution, they shall issue the regulations and administrative provisions that are necessary. The real property of the Federation located in the Municipalities shall be exclusively under the jurisdiction of the federal powers, without prejudice to the agreements they may enter into in terms of subparagraph i) of this section;

VI.When two or more urban centers located in municipal territories of two or more states (federal entities) form or tend to form a demographic continuity, the Federation, the states (federal entities) and the respective Municipalities, within the scope of their competences, shall jointly and coordinately plan and regulate the development of said centers, including criteria for mobility and road safety, in adherence to the federal laws on the matter.

VII.The preventive police shall be under the command of the municipal president in the terms of the State Public Security Law. It shall obey the orders that the Governor of the State transmits to it in those cases that he or she judges to be of force majeure or serious disturbance of public order.

The Federal Executive shall have the command of the public force in the places where it resides habitually or transitorily;

VIII.The laws of the states shall introduce the principle of proportional representation in the election of the city councils of all the municipalities.

The employment relationships between the municipalities and their employees shall be governed by the laws issued by the legislatures of the states based on the provisions of Article 123 of this Constitution, and its regulatory provisions.

IX.Repealed.

X.Repealed.