Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9006020030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But that's where the consensus ends.
Exactly what the two localities should discuss, and how to go about it, seems to be a sticking point in recent letters between Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth and Montgomery County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Ann Hess.
"I am writing to suggest once again . . . that we expand and develop our cooperative efforts. . . ." read an April 11 letter from Hess to Hedgepeth.
"Several times we have discussed the desirability of representatives of Town Council, the Board of Supervisors and the [Montgomery County] Public Service Authority to begin to negotiate regarding infrastructure needs," Hess wrote.
A month later, on May 10, Hedgepeth wrote to Hess: "We feel that your use . . . of the phrase `begin to negotiate regarding infrastructure needs' is too narrowly focused at this time and . . . that some very important groundwork needs to be explored prior to substantive talks on provision of service."
Translated: the never-ending conflict over who should provide services to the unincorporated parts of the county where urban growth is spilling over Blacksburg's borders.
Montgomery County says it has responsibility to serve all unincorporated areas where it is economically feasible. Blacksburg says such things as water and sewer, police protection, street lighting and so forth are urban services that are better provided by the town.
Three meetings earlier this year between the Blacksburg and Christiansburg councils and the Board of Supervisors yielded little direction on the issue.
Blacksburg has not ruled out the possibility of annexation since the issue arose in December, when the town proposed joint planning sessions with the county.
"We have some very different ideas about what a county should be, and behaving like an urban government is not one of them," Hedgepeth said in an interview.
The county has not responded to his letter.
Also, Hedgepeth said, town residents should not have to pay for service to unincorporated areas on top of paying for their own service from the town.
All county residents, including those in town, pay taxes into the general fund, which subsidizes the Public Service Authority.
"We are constantly criticized for that precise thing," Hess said. But, she added, water and sewer services provided by the authority eliminate health hazards in many parts of the county.
Hess said that taxes paid strictly by non-town residents more than covers the cost of services to them. However, the county is analyzing the ratio of money in and out of the general fund in relation to town and non-town services.
"I don't want to make this a major turf battle," Hess said. "As far as I'm concerned, those [water and sewer services] should be provided by the county, and we're in a position to provide them."
The Public Service Authority plans to start building sewer lines to residents and businesses along the one-mile corridor of U.S. 460 between Christiansburg and Blacksburg later this summer.
Public Service Authority Chairman Ira Long said the project will cost a little more than $800,000. A previous study done for the county showed that it would cost Blacksburg between $200,000 and $300,000 more to build the sewer lines, because Blacksburg town would have to pump the sewage several times uphill to reach its treatment plant off Prices Fork Road.
Hess said it's more economical for Blacksburg to serve other areas, such as Nellies Cave Road and other residential pockets east of the town. But the Montgomery County and Blacksburg still need to agree to a less cumbersome process to provide service to those areas, she said.
by CNB