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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                   TAG: 9406300122
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OFFICIALS AT IMPASSE ON STUDY'S FUNDING

Government officials in the Roanoke Valley have hit a small pothole in the most recent boulder-strewn road toward regional cooperation.

They want to hire a consultant to tell them which government services to merge and how it can be accomplished. But first they have to agree how to pay for the study, expected to cost between $30,000 and $45,000.

That's the hitch.

Should the cost be equally shared by all the jurisdictions involved? Or should it be apportioned based on population, with Vinton, Salem and Botetourt County paying less, but Roanoke and Roanoke County paying more?

A closed-door, lunchtime meeting Wednesday by managers from the five localities failed to settle those questions.

"We didn't make any decisions ... We all need to go back and talk with our councils about the issue," Roanoke City Manager Bob Herbert said after the meeting in his City Hall office. The other administrators - Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge, Vinton Town Manager Clay Goodman, Salem City Manager Randy Smith and Botetourt County Administrator Gerald Burgess - deferred comment to Herbert.

Herbert said he didn't expect to reach a consensus in the meeting. A decision isn't likely until a July 11 public meeting of managers and elected officials from the five jurisdictions, he added.

Valley business leaders have indicated a willingness to pay half the cost of the study. Herbert said the remainder won't be so large that it would be a major roadblock, should elected officials decide they want the study.

The proposal is to hire the government consulting firm Towers Perrin of Washington.

Roanoke County Supervisor Harry Nickens said he believes the costs should be apportioned based on population.

"To me that's the best way to do it. Salem is smaller than Roanoke County. Why should they pay [a full share]? Why should Vinton pay [a full share] when it's even smaller than Salem?" he asked.

Regional cooperation has long been a goal of Roanoke officials, who see increasing strains on their budget. The city is a mecca for the valley's less educated and more disadvantaged residents, who, on a per capita basis, use more services and pay less in taxes than their counterparts in the valley's other jurisdictions.

On June 14, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors voted to open talks with the city on regional cooperation, with the proviso that Vinton, Salem and Botetourt be included. Salem City Council, meanwhile, doesn't want to pay any share of the study's cost.

At best, merging services would end a duplication of efforts and may lower costs. And Herbert believes it would ultimately help economic development in the entire valley.

But experience here shows it's tricky to accomplish, given the sheer numbers of elected officials involved, the varied constituencies they represent and inevitable clashes of political egos. Achieving a consensus among politicians from one jurisdiction on a single issue is sometimes difficult in itself.

Current talks among managers from the valley's localities began late in 1993.

Other attempts at regional cooperation have failed in the past. County voters rejected a city-county consolidation referendum in 1990 by a 3-1 margin. Another effort in 1969 was defeated by a narrower margin in the county.