History
The City of Edinburg was founded on October 10, 1908 and was known as "Chapin". Records indicate a Commission form of government after its incorporation on September 19, 1919, consisting of one Mayor and two Commissioners. On May 5, 1928, a City Charter was adopted and recorded with the Secretary of State. On April 5, 1949, the present City Charter, and City Council-City Manager form of government was adopted and has been amended several times.

Present
The City Council form of government consists of one Mayor and four City Councilmembers. The City Council is a law-making and policy-making government body. The City Council is elected for a three year term, elected at large, by places, and majority vote required. Elections are held on the first Saturday in May.

Charter and City Code
The City of Edinburg is a home rule city and the City Council by Charter may by ordinance prescribe the manner in which any power of the City shall be exercised, except as otherwise provided for by the constitution of the United States and the State of Texas.

In 1982 the City Council authorized codification of all ordinances of a general and permanent nature into a volume entitled City of Edinburg Code of Ordinances. The Code consists of an indexed compilation of the laws of the City an the City Charter and is revised biannually to include new ordinances or amendments to existing laws. Copies are available at the City Secretary's Department for public review.
Code of Ordinances Online

City Statistics
The city has an area of 36.64 square miles.
The Census 2000 population is 48,465.
The city's tax rate is .6350 per $100 of the assessed valuation.