There is no “typical,” as every city is unique in its own right and has a distinct mix of service needs. Government-lite municipalities have anywhere from five to twelve employees.

Every municipality needs, at a minimum, an attorney, a clerk, and a manager/administrator. Beyond those three, the employment needs depend entirely on the scope of the services required by the community. The town of Weston, with 70,000 citizens, has roughly ten paid employees. Others commonly utilize just five or six. Perdido’s feasibility study proposes five paid employees.

Low legacy costs are a major advantage to the small number of salaried employees. Legacy costs are the expenses associated with health care fees and other benefits for an organization’s current employees and retired pensioners. Benefits and retirement can become a staggering burden on local governments that operate with large numbers of employees. By keeping the number of employees small and contracting out most services, government-lite municipalities can protect themselves from the risk of ballooning legacy costs.