It depends on what prism one views this within.
At all levels, lawmakers propose a law and then it is voted on and the executive (mayor, governor, president) puts it into law.
What can be different is who makes up the legislative body. Most often, local government only has one legislative body. Think a city council. This differs from State & Federal governments, which are often bicameral with a Senate and a House of Representatives.
The practical effect of this is that at the local level, as to be expected, less people are involved in the decision making process making the impact of a single city councilperson more effective.
On the back end, local government has less of an administrative state to consider in terms of implementation.
