Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994                   TAG: 9407200027
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MERGER STUDY SAYS BEDFORD WOULD PAY MORE, GET LESS

The study was commissioned by Bedford and completed by Thomas Muller, an economist and independent consultant who specializes in the study of local and regional economics.

Muller also suggested that Forest - the affluent suburban area in eastern Bedford County outside Lynchburg - could incorporate into a town and save Bedford and the county the trouble of consolidating.

"The current plan to merge the city and the county would require the city of Bedford ... to pay for Forest" and the expenses of Bedford County, said Muller, a former George Mason University professor. "It all comes down to ... who's paying for who."

On a per-person basis, the city outspends the county by about 5-to-1 on services such as police, recreation and garbage collection. State law says a city cannot provide better services for one area than another.

Since the city cannot decrease needed services to its residents, it would have to become a Special Service District, Muller said. The law allows merged cities to let special districts retain their pre-merger services if they pay for the services.

That would result in a 55-cent rise in the real estate tax rate for current city residents, or a $1.3 million total increase annually, Muller said.

The other alternative, according to the study, is for the new city to provide the same level of services to all the areas now in Bedford County - at a price of $10.3 million a year.

"If I lived in the county, I would support this, quite frankly," Muller said. "because I would pay less taxes and get the same services or better services."

Bedford County Administrator William C. Rolfe could not be reached for comment.

Residents of Forest initiated the merger discussions because of fears that Lynchburg would annex Forest when a statewide moratorium by the General Assembly on annexation by cities expires in 1997.

Muller said incorporating into a township would make it difficult for any annexation to occur. It also would mean that if Forest wanted extra services, such as expanded police protection, its residents could pay for them with town taxes.

H.F. Garner, a Forest resident who drafted the petition calling for a merged Bedford, disagreed with Muller's suggestions that incorporating Forest as a town could be a solution.

"It wouldn't solve any of our problems, because a town isn't immune to annexation," but a city is, Garner said. "Bedford County stands to lose 30 percent of its tax base to annexation if the moratorium ends."

The Forest resident also said that his petition had nothing to do with expanding services. He said there are ways to accomplish consolidation without extra costs to city residents.

As for Muller's study, Garner said, "Consultants say what they're hired to say."

Bedford Mayor G. Michael Shelton said the study is not an effort by city officials to paint consolidation in a bad light. Instead, Shelton said, the study is a tool to protect Bedford residents in merger negotiations with Bedford County.

An eight-member joint committee from the Bedford and Bedford County governments was formed in April to discuss a merger. They have one year to create a merger proposal for voters to consider in a 1995 referendum. Last week, the committee, which meets in closed sessions, announced that the resulting city would be named New Bedford City and have a council/city manager form of government.