Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995 TAG: 9511080027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The measure would have created a supercity the size of Bedford County - a city larger in land mass than all but four cities in the nation and all others in Virginia.
The vote was bad news for a retired Bedford County couple who launched the consolidation drive two years ago to simplify countywide planning and keep their community of Forest from being annexed by Lynchburg - although annexation is by no means automatic now, because it is forbidden by state law at least until 1997.
"Our efforts to consolidate Bedford County and Bedford city to protect themselves against annexation apparently haven't worked," said H.F. Garner, who led the campaign with his wife, Anita Virgil Garner. "Now, all we can do is sit back and watch them face the consequences in coming years, which I think will be pretty devastating."
Unless the consolidation measure is revived and passed in the future, he warned, Bedford County, population 50,100, can't confidently plan its future because of the threat of annexation.
The defeat of the measure was a victory for county residents who predicted consolidation would mean the imposition of city laws and the end of their rural lifestyle, including their freedom to hunt.
Factory worker and county resident Sonja Orange shared an extreme example of what she believed could have happened if rural areas came under one large city government:
"If we had a cow that mooed too loud, the city's going to bring us up on charges for waking a neighbor or something," she said.
Although city and county leaders had said such fears were unrealistic - even going as far as to predict no increase in taxes for county residents - Orange said she did not believe such assurances.
Under the proposed merger, the city of Bedford, population 6,000, would have become a shire, similar to a town, within the new city. It would have had one representative on a new seven-member governing board.
Proponents foresaw an end to city-county competition for industry, because taxes from new industries would have been shared regardless of where they located or expanded. By the same token, however, some feared the growth that consolidation could have made more likely.
Lynchburg and Roanoke would have been forbidden to annex pieces of the current Bedford County and shrink its tax base. Instead, the new city would have gained powers not available to counties to tax food sold in restaurants, tobacco products and hotel and motel rooms.
Opponents argued that annexation has been outlawed for years and that the current ban could be extended beyond 1997. They also said nothing precludes the city and county from cooperating on planning if they remain separate or from expanding the number of government services provided jointly.
"I still think we can do long-range planning in Bedford County," County Administrator Bill Rolfe said after the consolidation measure appeared headed for defeat. He said elected leaders would have to decide the extent of city-county cooperation from here on out, but noted that leaders of both governments grew closer as a result of having to write a consolidation plan and present it to voters.
Keywords:
ELECTION
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.