Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9307300045
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Daniel Howes
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Times are changing.
Roanoke County leaders have reacted predictably, saying city officials should look to Richmond - not Roanoke County - for remedies to the burgeoning city problems. City Council has asked its attorney to explore a few legal issues - such as, could Roanoke relinquish its charter?
Key business leaders, steeped in the economic assumptions of efficiency and downsizing, think they see the political and economic benefits of a consolidated valley government. But they don't relish the prospect of another divisive consolidation debate, referring to the 1990 battle.
"The general feeling is it's a little too soon to revisit this issue and the enthusiasm's not there," said Len Boone, a valley developer and real estate executive.
"Intuitively, I'd say consolidation should bring about economies of scale and efficiencies," said Thomas Robertson, president of Carilion Health System. "But I haven't seen the data to support it."
But consider that since consolidation was shot down by voters three years ago, some new realities of the region's economy have hit home:
Growth remains tepid, blossoming in one sector and wilting in another; higher paying jobs continue to disappear, along with corporate headquarters; the 1990 census and redistricting have shifted state political power eastward, making Roanoke and its problems increasingly irrelevant to decision-making in Richmond.
And make no mistake, the parity gap between Roanoke and Roanoke County is widening:
Incomes are rising faster - and higher - in the county. Census figures show that median household income in the city between 1980 and 1990 rose from $13,316 to $22,591. In the same period, county median household income jumped from $20,481 to $36,886. Averaging the annual growth rates over the decade shows county incomes grew faster than city incomes - 6.1 percent vs. 5.4 percent respectively.
Population is rising in the county, even as the city's slides. The county grew 8.8 percent from 72,940 to 79,332 over the decade, while the city slipped 3.8 percent from 100,220 to 96,397.
Eighty percent of the people receiving public assistance in Roanoke and Roanoke County live in the city, accounting for $11.2 million in public spending. The remaining 20 percent in the county receive $3.5 million in public funds.
Bowers - who is traveling in Russia and could not be reached - is fond of saying that the city he inherited a year ago is smaller, poorer and older than a decade ago. That's mostly true.
The trends here aren't encouraging. A former mayor of Albuquerque, N.M., David Rusk, earlier this month told a state commission in Richmond that cities unable to expand because of restrictive annexation laws "are made to become the poorhouses of their metro areas. They must house two, three, four times their fair share of poor households."
The way Rusk sees it, wealthier suburbs ringing distressed urban areas have a stake in reversing the decline of the central city and cannot hope to prosper alone in a global economy.
"Suburban incomes tend to be highest where central-city incomes also are highest," he told the governor's advisory commission on the revitalization of Virginia's urban areas. "The greater the gap between the suburb and city, the more the whole metro economy is held back."
Put aside the lower-cost-of-government argument for consolidation. Consider what effects - if any - it could have on the valley economy.
Would consolidation spur airlines to expand service to the Roanoke Regional Airport?
No, says Mark Courtney, the airport's marketing director. "As it is, we have a consolidated market area" - 10 counties, to be exact - "that has no bearing on the form of government, other than the joint airport commission, of course."
A consolidated government could be pitched as a "soft" advantage to increasing service - along with other quality-of-life amenities. "For the most part, air service reacts to an increase in demand," he says, underscoring the hard realities of airline marketing.
Would consolidation bolster Roanoke's position among national retailers and advertisers, raising its profile and leading to new investment?
Probably not, says Richard Lynn, president of S.H. Heironimus Co. Inc., a Roanoke retailer. "I don't think a retailer would make a decision to come into a market based on the system of local government. They'd probably even wink at the local tax structure" and base their decision on the characteristics of the Roanoke market and likely competition.
Would consolidation of governments help economic development efforts, adding jobs and investment?
Not much, say folks familiar with the arcana of behind-the-scenes economic development efforts. Most often, industrial prospects are interested in localities meeting site specifications, offering the right labor environment and helping secure incentives - not the structure of local government.
But, then, a consolidated government might help solve one of the most nagging problems for valley economic developers - the dilemma of land vs. money.
Bowers and other officials never seem to tire of pointing to the city's relative scarcity of developable land. Hemmed in by the 1979 no-annexation deal, they look enviously at rolling tracts in surrounding counties.
Roanoke County officials, with their comparatively smaller economic development budget, have only recently been able to invest in developing industrial property. They're tired of bidding wars and bickering over prospects.
A consolidated government likely would have greater ability to set priorities and make choices. It could decide, for example, whether to throw its larger resources behind renovating Hotel Roanoke or funding Explore Park, or both.
To be sure, consolidation is no guarantee of consensus. Voting blocs and political coalitions likely would emerge, pulling the government in one direction or the other.
The valley's economic bearings have dramatically changed - gone lean and more global - since the last time voters considered consolidation. And it's been a heck of a lot longer since state lawmakers considered Virginia's unique system of local government. Might Bowers be right? Is it worth another look?
by CNB