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

DATE: MONDAY, August 8, 1994                   TAG: 9408080074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SOUTH BOSTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOUTH BOSTON GETS OK TO REVERT TO A TOWN

The city of South Boston has won approval from the Virginia Supreme Court to revert to a town, a decision observers say may encourage other cities to try to do the same thing.

The Supreme Court rejected a petition by Halifax County to rehear the case, which South Boston initiated about four years ago. Halifax, which surrounds the city, opposed the reversion because it would require the county to provide more services to South Boston's 7,000 residents.

Halifax County has 29,000 residents.

City Manager Gary Christie, however, said the reversion will enable South Boston to become more financially viable. Christie said South Boston's tax base will increase because the community will receive tax revenues from businesses now outside the city limits.

Reversion also will enable the jurisdictions to consolidate services, such as two voter registrar's offices and two school boards, Christie said. It also will help the jurisdictions work together to attract new industry, Christie said.

``We should have a situation where both sides benefit from development,'' said Christie, who was notified Thursday of the Supreme Court's ruling. ``As a city it doesn't work.''

South Boston apparently will become the first city in the state's history to revert to a town, said M.H. Wilkinson, executive director of the state Commission on Local Government. South Boston, incorporated as a town in 1884, became a city in 1960.

Wilkinson said several other Virginia cities, including Charlottesville, Winchester and Martinsville, have explored reversion. Many other cities in the state, mostly those with 50,000 residents or fewer, have at least thought about it, he said.

Reversion makes sense for cities facing major urban problems because they can work more closely with counties, Wilkinson said.

``I don't think it's an isolated thing,'' Wilkinson said. ``More and more local governmental concerns are transcending local boundaries and can best be dealt with by local governments working in concert.''

Julia Moss, assistant administrator for Halifax County, said the county is waiting to hear advice from its attorney, Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, before deciding what to do next.

``We didn't want to have the petition denied, but it was,'' she said.

South Boston could become a town as early as July 1, 1995. The final decision on the date will be set by the three-judge Circuit Court panel that heard South Boston's original reversion petition. The panel consisted of one circuit judge each from Emporia, Fauquier County, and Hampton.

That panel approved the reversion, but imposed a series of conditions that were unacceptable to South Boston, including a 15-year-ban on annexation. South Boston appealed to the Supreme Court, which threw out those conditions. Halifax County then asked the Supreme Court to rehear the case, and it was this appeal that was denied this week.

South Boston became a city to avoid high real estate assessments, Christie said. At that time, a county could assess one area at a higher value than another, and South Boston residents thought they could more fairly assess their property if it was an independent city, Christie said.

In later years, the General Assembly revised the assessment process to even it out, Christie said.

by CNB