The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ayuntamiento \A*yun`ta*mi*en"to\, n. [Sp., fr. OSp. ayuntar to join.] In Spain and Spanish America, a corporation or body of magistrates in cities and towns, corresponding to mayor and aldermen.
Wiktionary
n. A corporation or body of magistrates in cities and towns in Spain, corresponding to mayor and aldermen.
Wikipedia
Ayuntamiento In other languages of Spain:
- Catalan/Valencian .
- Galician .
- Basque . is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America. Historically "ayuntamiento" was often preceded by the word excelentísimo ( English: "most excellent"), when referring to the council. This phrase is often abbreviated "Exc. Ay."
In Catalan-speaking parts of Spain, municipalities generally use the Catalan cognate, ajuntament, while Galician ones use the word concello, Astur-Leonese conceyu and Basque udaletxea. Ayuntamiento is mainly used in Spain; in Latin America alcaldía is also used to describe municipal governing bodies, especially the executive ones, where the legislative body and an executive one are two separate entities.
In Latin America several terms exist for the legislative bodies of municipalities. The term consejo is used in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru. In Mexico the term ayuntamiento is used to describe the council. Puerto Rican municipalities have a legislatura municipal. In Peru the term ayuntamiento is never used. It is Municipalidad or Consejo Provincial o Distrital executive functions in most of these countries is handled by an executive alcalde, the Mayor (not to be confused with the historic alcalde, who was a magistrate).
Since ayuntamiento is a metonym for the building in which the council meets, it also translates to "city/town hall" in English.
An Ayuntamiento is the public organisation charged with the task of administering and governing the municipalities of Spain not bound to the regime of concejo abierto ("open council").
It is formed by the Mayor ( Alcalde) and the elected councillors, who compose the Plenary (Pleno). In municipalities over 5000 inhabitants a Government Commission (Junta de Gobierno or Comisión de Gobierno) is mandatory, while the existence of the body in municipalities under that population is at the discretion of the Plenary or the organic regulations of the Ayuntamiento.
After the 1978 Spanish Constitution, the Ayuntamiento follows a collegiate-representative model, with features of a corporative organism such as the double presidency of both the deliberative body (the Plenary) and the executive body by the Mayor, and the formation of the Government Commission exclusively by elected councillors. The indirect election of the Mayor by the councillors, stated in the 1978 Law of Local Elections was confirmed in the 1985 Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime. The system of municipal organization is described in the 1985 Law Regulatory of the Basis of the Local Regime (LRBRL). A 11/1999 Law superseding some features of the LRBRL set increased powers for the Mayor, gaining in turn the Plenary more scrutiny powers over him. The Plenary lacks legislative autonomy.
The municipalities of Madrid and Barcelona have a special regime, regulated by the 2006 Law of Capitality and Special Regime in the case of the Ayuntamiento of Madrid and by the Municipal Charter of Barcelona, approved in the 22/1998 Catalan law in the case of Barcelona.
Usage examples of "ayuntamiento".
Meanwhile, the Ayuntamiento informed me that it had reduced our allotment to half.
You refer to your instructions to me in an earlier letter about get216 Julia Alvarez ting the Ayuntamiento to pay their debt to me.
With the Ayuntamiento debt outstanding andwiththe stipend I am sending you, there is nothing left for frivolities.
IN THE NAME OF SALOM- 229 other sore point of the last few years, the sums the Ayuntamiento owes US.
Then, too, the Ayuntamiento was always in arrears in paying us our monthly stipend, a sum considerably reduced from what they had originally promised.
I would rather that it took place in the Calle de la Ciudad, or around the Casa del Ayuntamiento, where your Majesty is expected to sleep to-night.
Queen was evidently expected at the Casa del Ayuntamiento, for at the approach of the carriage the great doors were thrown open and a number of servants appeared in the patio, which was but dimly lighted.
Casa del Ayuntamiento stands, as many travellers know, in the Plaza of the same name, and faces the Cathedral, which is without doubt the oldest, as it assuredly is the most beautiful, church in the world.
He was the last to look out into the streets and across the little Plaza del Ayuntamiento, which was deserted and looked peaceful enough in the light of a waning moon.
Casa del Ayuntamiento - were left in some confusion in the Plaza, and Estella saw with a sudden cold fear that Conyngham and Concha were on their knees in the midst of a little group of hesitating men.
We are yours--we will die for you, no matter what Don Ramon, or the Comandante, or the Ayuntamiento, shall decide.
After this many of the men left the lines and their places were taken by the drunkards who had been jeering and saying things in bad taste through the windows of the Ayuntamiento.