Government & elections
Every in-game month the island elects a governor. The governor runs the treasury, sets the taxes and licence prices, imports the goods nobody on the island can make, appoints up to three ministers and the chiefs of police and EMS, and funds their duty salaries. Citizens can vote a bad governor out early.
Who is who
The treasury
The treasury is the island's shared account. It is saved on the server, cannot be robbed and cannot be withdrawn — it can only be spent on imports and on the police and EMS budgets. Every movement is in the public ledger on the Government app.
| Money in | From |
|---|---|
| Property & vehicle tax | Bills paid at the Tax Office |
| Sales tax | Added to every item you buy in a shop |
| Income tax | Taken from what shops pay you when you sell |
| Vehicle sales tax | Added to the dealer price when you buy a vehicle |
| Auction house tax | Taken from the seller's payout at the auction house |
| Licence fees | Every licence bought at the DMV |
| Candidate & recall fees | Everyone who runs for governor or starts a recall vote |
| Returned budget | Police or EMS money the government takes back |
| Money out | For |
|---|---|
| Import orders | Goods bought abroad at 2× the item's base price |
| Import courier fees | Paid to the courier who delivers each import package |
| Department budgets | Grants to the police and EMS budgets, which pay the hourly duty salaries |
Shop safes: when you buy from a shop, the shop's own profit (its sell price minus what it pays for the item) goes into that shop's safe, if it has one. The tax on top goes to the treasury.
Taxes the governor sets
Rates are 0–100 %. The governor, or a minister with the Tax rates right, changes them; licence prices need the Licence prices right. Every change is announced to everyone online. The current values are always shown at the Tax Office → Tax rates tab; the numbers below are the defaults until someone changes them.
| Tax | How it is charged | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Property tax | Share of the house price, billed every 7 in-game days. Pay at the Tax Office. The Realty Office shows the weekly amount before you buy. | 1 % |
| Vehicle tax | Share of the vehicle price, billed every 7 in-game days. The vehicle shop shows the weekly amount on each vehicle. | 0.5 % |
| Sales tax | Added to each item's shop price, per item, rounded to whole dollars — very cheap items can come out at $0 tax. Shop prices you see already include it. | 5 % |
| Income tax | Taken per item from what a shop pays you when you sell to it. | 0 % |
| Vehicle sales tax | Added on top of the dealer price when you buy a vehicle (not on the insurance premium). | 5 % |
| Auction house tax | Taken from the seller's payout at the auction house, next to the house's own cut. The black market pays none. | 5 % |
| Licence prices | Each DMV licence can be re-priced from $0 to $10,000,000. | licence default |
| Candidate fee | Flat fee to run for governor, $1,000 – $10,000,000. Only the governor can change it. | $100,000 |
Imports — the Import Office at the airport
Some goods cannot be made on the island at all (water, milk, clothes, medical supplies, weapons, police gear…). Once a shop sells out of them, only the governor — or a minister with the Imports right — can bring more in.
- Pick a shop. The Government app lists every shop with how many of its items are importable, how many are running low and how many are already on the way.
- Pick an item and order. The import price is 2× the item's base price. Up to 500 units per order. The quote shows goods, courier fees, the total and the treasury after the order.
- The goods land at the Import Office in the airbase hangar, packed into crates of at most 60 kg / 20 units.
- A courier contract appears at once on the courier board — Import Office → the shop that was picked.
- A courier delivers it. Pick the crate up at the Import Office, bring it to the shop, and the treasury pays the courier fee: $400 + $300 per km + $10 per kg + 3 % of the cargo value (max $3,000) per crate. The courier does not pay for the goods.
An item can be imported for a shop only if that shop lists it, it has a price, nobody on the island crafts it, and no producer already supplies it through courier contracts. Contraband is never imported. The Import Office itself sells nothing to players.
The cabinet — up to 3 ministers
The governor does not have to do everything alone. In the Cabinet tab of the Government app the governor picks an online player, ticks what that minister may do, and appoints them. There are 3 seats.
| Right | What the minister can do with it |
|---|---|
| Tax rates | Change property, vehicle, sales, income, vehicle sales and auction house tax |
| Licence prices | Re-price the DMV licences |
| Imports | Order imports for shops from the treasury |
| Police / EMS ranks | Give and take police and EMS ranks in the Personnel tab — including making someone Chief of Police or Chief of EMS |
| Department budgets | Move money from the treasury to the police and EMS budgets and back |
- A minister needs at least one right. The new minister gets a big on-screen notice listing their rights and the Government app on the phone, titled Minister's Office. They see the same tabs as the governor, but only the actions of their rights work (the rest show No permission); the Personnel tab appears only with the ranks right. Every action is checked again by the server.
- Every minister can also send an announcement to the island, signed with their name and office.
- The governor can change a minister's rights or dismiss them at any time. Only the governor appoints ministers and sets the candidate fee.
- Ministers leave office with the governor — at the end of the term or when a recall vote passes.
Police and EMS — ranks and chiefs
The governor (or a minister with the ranks right) sees every player who is online and can set their police and EMS rank (not their own). The top rank of each service is its chief, and only the government can make or remove a chief.
| Level | Police rank |
|---|---|
| 1 | Recruit |
| 2 | Police Officer |
| 3 | Senior Police Officer |
| 4 | Corporal |
| 5 | Sergeant |
| 6 | Staff Sergeant |
| 7 | Lieutenant |
| 8 | Captain |
| 9 | Deputy Chief |
| 10 | Chief of Police |
| Level | EMS rank |
|---|---|
| 1 | EMT |
| 2 | Paramedic |
| 3 | Chief of EMS |
Level 0 is Civilian. The Police app and the Duty app appear on the phone the moment you are given a rank — no relog. Everyone promoted, demoted, removed or made chief gets a big on-screen notice.
The chief's office
The Chief of Police and the Chief of EMS open their department from the phone: Duty app → Department panel. Each department has its own budget, separate from the treasury.
| Tab | What the chief can do |
|---|---|
| Members | Every online member with rank, on/off duty, unpaid hours, pay owed and lifetime hours. Promote or demote anyone below chief, or remove them from the department. A chief cannot change their own rank or another chief's. |
| Salaries | Set the pay per in-game hour on duty for every rank (up to $100,000 an hour). The table also shows what each rank earns per 24-hour shift. A rank with no salary set earns nothing. |
| Budget | The department balance, what is owed to members right now, who is on duty, and the department ledger (grants, returns, duty pay). |
| Announce | A big centre-screen announcement to the department's online members, signed with the chief's name and rank. Tick On duty only to reach just the members on duty. |
The money comes from the government: in the Budgets tab of the Government app the governor (or a minister with the budgets right) grants money from the treasury to the police or the EMS, and can return unused budget to the treasury.
Duty and pay
- Clock in. Open the Duty app on the phone (or the pay desk) and tap Clock in. You can be on duty for one service at a time. The phone shows how many officers and medics are on duty.
- Hours count while you are clocked in, in in-game hours (one in-game hour is 15 real minutes).
- Collect your pay at the pay desk — the Police Equipment shop at the police station for officers, the Medical Supply shop at the Central Hospital for medics. Pay = unpaid hours × the salary your chief set for your rank.
- If the budget is short, you are paid what it can cover and the rest stays owed on your record until the government tops the budget up. If the budget is empty, ask the governor for funds.
Elections
One election per in-game month. One in-game day is 6 real hours, so a whole cycle is about a real week.
| When (in-game) | Phase | What you can do at the Election Office |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 → 8 days before the month ends (≈ 3 weeks) | Registration | Register as a candidate (pay the fee, cash). You can withdraw during registration, but the fee is not refunded. |
| Last 7 days of the month | Voting | Vote for one candidate. One vote per player per election, final. Votes are counted live: the ballot shows each candidate's votes and share. Candidates can no longer withdraw. |
| Day 1 of the next month | Result | The candidate with the most votes becomes governor; on a tie, whoever registered first wins. If nobody ran or nobody voted, the current governor stays. The next election starts straight away. |
The new governor gets the Government app on the phone immediately (online or at next login); the previous governor and all their ministers lose it at the same moment. Everyone online gets a message when registration opens, when voting opens and when the result is in.
Recall votes and snap elections
Any citizen can try to dismiss the governor before the term ends, at the Election Office.
- Start a recall. Pay $25,000 in cash (it goes to the treasury). Your own Yes vote counts at once, and everyone online is told.
- Everyone votes Yes (dismiss) or No (keep) within 3 in-game days. One vote each, final.
- It passes with more Yes than No and at least 3 votes cast. The governor and every minister leave office at once.
- A snap election starts: 7 days of registration, 7 days of voting, result the day after. It replaces the regular election of that month; the normal monthly cycle starts again on day 1 of the next month.
| A recall cannot start when… |
|---|
| there is no governor, or you are the governor |
| a recall vote or a snap election is already running |
| the governor took office less than 3 in-game days ago |
| the last recall failed less than 7 in-game days ago |
The Government app
Open the phone and tap Government. The app only exists for the governor and the ministers; a minister can only use the actions of their rights. Every action is checked by the server again, so nobody else can use it.
| Tab | What it does | Who can act |
|---|---|---|
| Shops | Every shop's stock; order imports for a shop | Governor, Imports |
| Imports | Import contracts on the courier board and their progress | Governor, Imports |
| Taxes | All six tax rates; licence prices; the candidate fee | Governor, Tax rates / Licence prices |
| Personnel | Police and EMS ranks of online players | Governor, Ranks |
| Budgets | Grant money to the police and EMS budgets, or return it | Governor, Budgets |
| Cabinet | Appoint, edit and dismiss ministers (3 seats) | Governor only (ministers can see the cabinet) |
| Treasury | Balance and ledger | Everyone with the app |
| Announce | Announcement to the whole island | Governor and ministers |
Announcements
Important news now arrives as a big centre-screen announcement instead of a chat line.
| From | Reaches |
|---|---|
| Governor or a minister — Government app → Announce | Everyone online, signed with name and office (title up to 48 characters, text up to 240) |
| Chief of Police / Chief of EMS — Department panel → Announce | The department's online members, or only those on duty |
| The game itself | Everyone: new tax rates and licence prices, election phases and results, recall votes; and you alone: promotions, demotions, appointments |
Screens in this guide show example values; the game shows the live ones.