Political Constitution of Colombia (1991)

As the fundamental entity of the political-administrative division of the State, it is the responsibility of the municipality to lend those public services determined by statute, to build the projects required for local progress, to arrange for the development of its territory, to promote community participation, the social and cultural betterment of its inhabitants, and to execute the other functions assigned to it by the Constitution and the statutes.

In each municipality there shall be a political-administrative body popularly elected for periods of four years which shall be known as the municipal council, composed by no fewer than 7 and no more than 21 members, in accordance with the determination made by an Act based on the respective population. This body may exercise political control over the municipal administration.

An Act shall determine the qualifications, disabilities, and incompatibilities of the councilors and the schedule of the ordinary sessions of the councils. The councilors shall not have the status of public employees.

An Act may determine the cases in which the councilors shall be entitled to allowances for their attendance at sessions.

The acceptance of any public employment means that the respective councilor is prevented permanently from the discharge of his/her duties.

The councils have the following competences:

To regulate the functions and efficient delivery of the services for which the municipality is responsible.

To adopt the appropriate plans and programs of economic and social development and of public works.

To authorize the mayor to make contracts and exercise temporarily specific functions among those for which the council is responsible.

To vote for taxes and local expenditures in accordance with the Constitution and the relevant statute.

To dictate the organic budgetary regulations and issue annually the budget of revenues and expenditures.

To determine the structure of the municipal administration and the functions of their dependencies; the scales of remuneration appropriate to the various categories of employees; create at the initiative of the mayor public institutions and industrial or commercial enterprises and authorize the formation of mixed [public-private] companies.

To regulate the uses of the land and, within the limits determined by statute, oversee and control the activities connected with the construction and sale of housing slated for residences.

To elect a representative for the period determined by statute and the other functionaries that the latter stipulates.

To dictate the regulations necessary for the control, preservation, and defense of the ecological and cultural patrimony of the municipality.

Other competences which the Constitution or statutes assign them.

To summon and invite the secretaries of the office of the mayor to attend the sessions of the council in the capitals of the departments and the municipalities with more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The summons must be made not less than five days prior to a session and be formulated in the form of a written questionnaire. In case the secretaries do not attend, without an excuse accepted by the district or municipal council, the latter may table a motion of censure. The secretaries must be heard at the session for which they were summoned, without prejudice to the possibility that the discussion continues at subsequent sessions following a decision of the council. The discussion may not extend to other issues than those in the questionnaire and shall be placed at the top of the session’s agenda.

The councils of the other municipalities may summon and invite the secretaries of the office of the mayor to attend the sessions of the council. The summons must be made not less than five days prior to a session and be formulated in the form of a written questionnaire. In case the secretaries do not attend, without an excuse accepted by the district or municipal council, any of its members may table a motion with observations which may not lead to the resignation of the respective official. Its approval shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the body.

To table a motion of censure with respect to the secretaries of the office of the mayor for matters related to their official functions, or for ignoring the requests or summons of the district or municipal council. The motion of censure must be tabled by one half of the members of the district or municipal council plus one. The vote shall take place between the third and 10th day following the end of the discussion, with a public hearing of the respective official. Approval of the motion shall require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the relevant body. Once the motion is approved, the official shall be relieved of his/her functions. If it is voted down, no new motion of censure may be proposed on the same matter unless it is supported by new facts. The resignation of the official against which the censure motion has been tabled does not prevent the latter from being approved in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

In each municipality there shall be a mayor, head of the local administration and legal representative of the municipality, who shall be popularly-elected for institutional periods of four (4) years and may not be reelected for the subsequent period.

When the mayor is permanently prevented from discharging the duties of his/her office for more than eighteen (18) months before the end of his/her term, a mayor shall be elected for the remaining period. In case the end of the term is less than eighteen (18) months away, the Governor shall appoint a mayor for the rest of the term, who must belong to the party, political group or coalition for which the elected mayor had been registered.

The President [of the Republic] and the governors in the cases restrictively stipulated by an Act may suspend mayors or remove them from office.

An Act shall establish the sanctions that apply for the improper exercise of that power.

The following are powers of the mayor:

To execute and to ensure the execution of the Constitution, the statutes, the decrees of the government, the ordinances, and the resolutions of the council.

To protect the public order in the municipality, in accordance with the law and the instructions and orders that the mayor may receive from the President of the Republic and the respective governor. The mayor is the highest police authority of the municipality. The National Police shall promptly and diligently execute the orders given to it by the mayor through the channel of the respective commander.

To direct the administration of the municipality; secure the execution of the functions and the delivery of services for which the mayor is responsible; represent it in a judicial and extrajudicial capacity; and appoint and remove the officials under his/her jurisdiction as well as the managers or directors of the public institutions and the industrial or commercial enterprises of a local character, in accordance with the pertinent provisions.

To eliminate or merge municipal entities and dependencies, in accordance with the respective resolutions.

To present in timely manner to the Council proposals concerning the plans and programs of economic and social development, public works, the annual budget of revenues and expenditures, and other measures that the mayor may find appropriate for the effective operation of the municipality.

To sanction and promulgate the resolutions which the Council may have approved and to veto those that he/she considers inappropriate or contrary to the legal regulations.

To create, eliminate, or merge positions under the mayor’s jurisdiction, to stipulate the special functions and determine their emoluments in accordance with the relevant resolutions. The mayor may not create obligations that exceed the total amount allocated for personnel expenditures in the initially approved budget.

To cooperate with the Council for the effective execution of its functions, present to it general reports on his/her administration, and convoke it to special sessions in which only those issues and matters for which it was summoned may be examined.

To manage municipal expenditures in accordance with the investment plan and the budget.

Other matters which the Constitution and the statute provide for.

In the balloting held for the election of local authorities and for the decision of matters of like nature, only citizens residing in the respective municipality may participate.

Only municipalities may tax real estate. This does not bar other entities from imposing appraisal levies.

An Act shall allocate a percentage of these taxes, which may not exceed the average of existing tax surcharges, to the entities entrusted with the protection and conservation of the environment and the renewable natural resources, in accordance with the development plans of the municipalities of the area under their jurisdiction.

With the purpose of improving the provision of services and securing the participation of the citizenry in the handling of public affairs of a local character, the councils may divide their municipalities into communes when urban areas are involved, and into jurisdictions in the case of rural zones.

In each of the communes or jurisdictions, there shall be a popularly elected local administrative board made up of a number of members determined by statute and which shall have the following functions:

To participate in the elaboration of municipal plans and programs of economic and social development and public works.

To oversee and control the provision of municipal services in its commune or jurisdiction and the investments realized with public funds.

To formulate investment proposals before the national, departmental, and municipal authorities entrusted with the elaboration of the respective investment plans.

To distribute the overall share allocated to it by the municipal budget.

To exercise the functions delegated to it by the council and other local authorities.

The departmental assemblies may organize administrative boards for the execution of the functions stipulated for them by the act of their establishment in the territory which the latter itself determines.

When two or more municipalities have economic, social, and fiscal relations which give to the whole characteristics of a metropolitan area, they may organize themselves as an administrative entity entrusted with programming and coordinating the harmonious and integrated development of the territory placed under their authority; rationalize the provision of public services for those who are responsible for it, and, if such is the case, jointly provide some of them; and execute projects of metropolitan interest.

The Act on territorial planning shall adopt for the metropolitan areas an administrative and fiscal regime of special character; shall guarantee that in their organs of administration the respective municipal authorities may enjoy adequate participation; and shall stipulate the form of convoking and holding the popular consultations which the municipalities involved may decide upon.

Once the popular consultation is held, the respective mayors and municipal councilors shall record in a protocol the configuration of the area and shall define its powers, financing, and authorities, in accordance with the relevant statute.

The metropolitan areas may convert themselves into districts in accordance with the relevant statute.

An Act may establish categories of municipalities in accordance with their population, fiscal resources, economic importance, and geographic situation, and stipulate a specific regime for their organization, government, and administration.

The provinces are made up of municipalities or adjacent indigenous territories belonging to the same department.

An Act shall stipulate the basic statute and determine the administrative regime of the provinces that may be organized for the execution of the functions delegated to them by national or departmental entities and which an Act assigns to them and to the municipalities that make them up.

The provinces shall be created by ordinance, at the initiative of the governor, the mayors of the respective municipalities, or the number of citizens determined by statute.

For admission to an already constituted province, a popular consultation must be held in the municipalities involved.

The department and municipalities shall bring to the provinces the percentage of their current revenues that the assembly and respective councils shall determine.

Bogotá, Capital of the Republic and of the Department of Cundinamarca, is organized as District Capital.

Its political, fiscal, and administrative regime are determined by the Constitution, the special laws that are enacted for this purpose, and the provisions applicable to the municipalities.

Based on the general rules established by an Act, the council shall, at the initiative of the mayor, divide the territory of the district into localities, in accordance with the social characteristics of its inhabitants, and shall make the corresponding allocation of powers and administrative functions.

It shall be the responsibility of the district authorities to guarantee the harmonious and integrated development of the city and the efficient provision of the services for which the district is responsible; the management of matters proper to their territory shall be the responsibility of the local authorities.

The district council shall consist of forty-five (45) councilors.

In each of the localities there shall be an administrative board, popularly elected for periods of four (4) years, which shall be composed of no fewer than seven aldermen/alderwomen, in accordance with the determination of the District Council made on the basis of the respective population.

The election of the senior mayor, the district councilors, and the aldermen/alderwomen shall be held on the same day for periods of four (4) years; the mayor may not be reelected for the following term.

When the senior mayor is permanently prevented from discharging the duties of his/her office more than eighteen (18) months before the end of his/her term, a senior mayor shall be elected for the remaining period. In case the end of the term is less than eighteen (18) months away, the President of the Republic shall appoint a senior mayor for the rest of the term, who must belong to the party, political group or coalition for which the elected mayor had been registered.

The local mayors shall be designated by the senior mayor from a list submitted by the competent administrative board.

In the cases restrictively stipulated by an Act, the President of the Republic may suspend or remove the senior mayor from office.

The councilors and aldermen/alderwomen may not form part of the executive boards of the decentralized entities.

The local administrative boards shall apportion and appropriate the aggregates which are allocated to the localities in the annual budget of the district, taking into account the basic unsatisfied needs of their population.

Concerning the departmental revenues that are produced in Santa Fe de Bogotá, an Act shall determine the share appropriate to the capital of the Republic. Such share may not be superior to that established at the date this Constitution goes into effect.

With the purpose of guaranteeing the execution of the plans and programs of integral development and the timely and efficient provision of the services for which it is responsible, within the terms set by the Constitution and the relevant statute, the Capital District may form a metropolitan area with the adjacent municipalities and a region with other territorial entities of departmental character.

The adjacent municipalities may become incorporated into the Capital District if this is what the citizens who reside in them determine by means of a vote that shall be held when the District Council has expressed its approval of such incorporation. If the latter occurs, the constitutional and legal provisions in force shall be applied to the old municipality for the other localities that make up the Capital District.

In the elections of governor and deputies to the Departmental Assembly of Cundinamarca, the citizens registered in the electoral rolls of the Capital District shall not participate.

The Tourist and Cultural District of Cartagena de Indias and the Touristic, Cultural, and Historic District of Santa Marta shall retain their regime and character, and Buenaventura y Tumaco shall be organized as Special, Industrial, Port, Biodiversity and Biotourism District.

The configuration of the indigenous [Indian] territorial entities shall be drawn subject to the provisions of the Institutional Act of Territorial Planning, and their delimitation shall be effected by the national government with the participation of the representatives of the indigenous communities following the plan of the Commission of Territorial Planning.

The safeguards that apply relate to collective property which may not be sold.

An Act shall define the relations and coordination of these entities with those of which they form a part.

In the case of an indigenous [Indian] territory that may include the territory of two or more departments, its administration shall be implemented by indigenous councils in coordination with the governors of the respective departments. In case that such territory should decide to constitute itself as a territorial entity, this shall be done in compliance with the requirements established by the first clause of this article.

In accordance with the Constitution and the statutes, the indigenous territories shall be governed by the councils formed and regulated according to the uses and customs of their communities and shall exercise the following functions:

Oversee the application of the legal regulations concerning the uses of the land and settlement of their territories.

Design the policies, plans and programs of economic and social development within their territory, in accordance with the National Development Plan.

Promote public investments in their territories and oversee their appropriate implementation.

Collect and distribute their funds.

Oversee the conservation of natural resources.

Coordinate the programs and projects promoted by the different communities in their territory.

Cooperate with the maintenance of the public order within their territory in accordance with the instructions and provisions of the national government.

Represent the territories before the national government and the other entities in which they are integrated; and

Other matters stipulated by the Constitution and statute.

The exploitation of the natural resources in the indigenous territories shall be done without impairing the cultural, social, and economic integrity of the indigenous communities. In the decisions adopted with respect to said exploitation, the government shall encourage the participation of the representatives of the respective communities.

The Autonomous Regional Corporation of the Rió Grande de la Magdalena entrusted with the improvement of navigation, port activity, the improvement and conservation of land, the generation and distribution of energy, and the use and conservation of the environment, fishing resources, and other renewable natural resources shall be established.

An Act shall determine its organization and sources of financing and shall define in favor of the riparian municipalities special treatment in the assignment of benefits and in their share of current national revenues.