Baltimore County, Maryland is a body corporate and politic which performs all local governmental functions within its jurisdiction. There are no incorporated towns, villages, municipalities or other political subdivisions in the County. The County has operated as a Charter County since 1957 and is governed by an elected County Executive and a seven-member County Council.

Each member of the County Council has one vote, and a simple majority of the County Council is sufficient to pass legislation in the absence of higher voting requirements. Emergency bills require the vote of five members of the County Council, as do County Council actions to override a veto by the County Executive. The County Council elects its own Chairperson at its first regular session in each calendar year.

As the final fiscal authority of Baltimore County, the County Council is responsible for adopting an annual balanced budget capable of financing the operations of county government for the fiscal year. The budget must be adopted on or before June 1 in each year; the budget bill is not subject to veto by the County Executive. The general fund operating budget for fiscal year 2007 totals $1.59 billion; nearly half of this amount is appropriated to the Department of Education to fund the County's public school system.