Why do municipalities not have political party alignments?

They do, they very much do. At least here in the States.

@Darth_Algar is right, we do. Last fall we had a pretty involved local election that got quite contentious, right along party lines. Some years it’s almost impossible to tell, but recently it’s a bit nasty.

@canidmajor Ok Canada then.

Of course they do.
It’s just that those political alignments and the struggles around them increase with the wealth and power around the municipality involved. I mean there’s Chicago and there’s Ottumwa Iowa.

Ours doesn’t have political parties. It would seem to be useless on the local level. In any case, not having them works well for my municipality.

Pay more attention.

Parties are a way of aligning like minded groups spread over a disparate area. Cities, towns, and counties are generally focused on local issues that are not a matter of policy but more nuts and bolts.