Government Mode

When a member in your political party has successfully become the mayor of a city, you will see the new Government mode icon at the bottom of the screen, as shown in the below screenshot.

Click on it and the game will switch to the Government mode, allowing you to give orders on behalf of the city government.

To switch back to the Business mode to give orders on behalf of your corporation, simply click on the Business mode icon which is located next to the Government mode icon.

You will notice the following changes to the interfaces when the Government mode is active.

Cash and Surplus
At the bottom of the screen, the game will display the cash and surplus of the current city government, instead of the cash and profit of your corporation.

The Mayor Approval Rating
The city’s mayor approval rating is shown on the bottom of the screen.

Land-use Planning Tool

The mayor will be able to use the new Land-use Planning Tool.
Click on the tool icon to bring up the Land-use Planning menu, which allows you to restrict different areas of your city to specific uses.

The tools available from the menu include:

Mixed Residential-Commercial Zoning Tool  
Use this tool to set selected land plots to mixed residential-commercial zones.

Residential Zoning Tool  
Use this tool to set selected land plots to residential zones.

Commercial Zoning Tool  
Use this tool to set selected land plots to commercial zones.

Industrial Zoning Tool  
Use this tool to set selected land plots to industrial zones.

Agricultural Zoning Tool  
Use this tool to set selected land plots to agricultural zones. The land cost in agricultural zones are significantly lower than other zones.

Zoning Tool – Not For Sale
Land plots marked by this tool will not be for sale.

Applying to the Entire City 
At the bottom of the menu, you will see a circular icon which allows you to:
Toggle the menu for applying a specific land purpose for the entire city. Then select a land purpose and apply it to the entire city.

Build Menu

Under the government mode, you will see a different list of buildings on the build menu, which are limited to the types of buildings that the government is allowed to build and operate using the city fund.  
You may view the different zone colors of the city without activating the land-use planning menu. The zone colors are displayed on the mini-map as well when it is set to the business relation mode, as shown in the below screenshot.

Management Automation Tools

The game provides a set of tools that automate the time consuming tasks of micromanaging individual government buildings, letting you focus on the bigger picture instead.
To access them, open the Cities screen and select the Mayor page.

Auto Adjust Operation Levels of Civic Buildings
When this is enabled, the computer will automatically adjust the operation levels of all of the city’s civic facilities for you. It will set the operation levels based on the demands of the civic facilities.
Auto Manage Media Firms
When this is enabled, the computer will automatically manage all of the city’s existing media firms for you.
Auto Manage Apartments
When this is enabled, the computer will automatically manage all of the corporation’s existing apartments. It will set the apartments’ rents based on your preference which you may customize with the “Rent” setting.

Auto Manage Commercial Buildings
When this is enabled, the computer will automatically manage all of the corporation’s existing commercial buildings. It will set the commercial buildings’ rents based on your preference which you may customize with the “Rent” setting.

Tips for Balancing the City Government Budget

Question: I am running a city with pre-built government buildings. The problem is that the city government’s incomes are not sufficient to cover the government buildings’ operating expenses, resulting in significant deficits. I want to balance the budget by shutting down some of the government buildings but I cannot find a way to do so. What can I do?

Answer: There is a slider on each government building’s interface as shown below, which allows you to adjust the level of operation of the building. By scaling down the operation, you can reduce its operating cost. If you set its level to 0%, its operation will be completely suspended and will not recur any monthly expenses.