A county nearly always contains multiple towns and cities. The County has certain functions like the Superior Courts which deal with civil and criminal matters. The towns have their own municipal courts which deal with traffic issue and misdemeanor crimes. NYC is unique where the City actually contains 5 counties or boroughs as they are known (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and Manhattan). Counties also have functions that serve all the towns within them like road maintenance and recycling plants and boards of elections.