ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180039
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
NOT SINCE Linwood Holton's administration in the early '70s has a governor of Virginia made a significant effort to encourage regional cooperation among local governments. Gov. George Allen is taking a modest step in that direction, and Virginia localities should cheer him on.
Allen is asking the 1996 General Assembly to remove a legal encumbrance facing cities, counties and towns that want to enter into voluntary revenue-sharing agreements for economic-development projects.
Yes, localities can make such pacts now. But unless they've been approved by citizens in a referendum or are undertaken to forestall (or, less likely, facilitate) annexations and other changes in jurisdictional definitions, they're neither legally binding nor enforceable.
That means, technically, a locality could sink money into a joint venture only to have its partners renege on the agreement to share revenue.
Roanoke and Botetourt counties, for example, went 50-50 on expenses some years back to develop the Jack C. Smith Industrial Park which straddles their borders on U.S. 460 East. (The agreement has progressed to include a jointly owned library and fire station.)
The project is a success - so mutually beneficial that the two counties are considering similar joint ventures. But nothing, other than honor and integrity, apparently would prevent a future board of supervisors in either county from going back on the arrangement to share revenues equally.
Allen's proposal would remove the ``bad faith'' risk that may spook some local governments now, discouraging them from cooperating for economic development.
It does not, of course, pose much of a risk for Allen. It involves no restructuring of local governments, nor any commitment of state funds. It requires none of the bold moves that may prove necessary to get parochial, petty local governments to realize that regional cooperation must be more than an occasional, reluctant thing, more than a sound bite for politicians.
Even so, Allen's initiative is supported by the Urban Partnership, a coalition of mostly cities and business groups that is asking the General Assembly to take several actions to foster more regional efforts for economic revitalization. Key among the partnership's proposals is creation of a $200 million-a-year incentive fund to encourage localities to enter into regional projects.
Today, the partnership is launching its campaign for passage of its legislative package. This package has the endorsement of former Gov. Mills Godwin Jr., among others. Former Gov. Holton is serving as its chief lobbyist. Gov. Allen's initiative is a helpful, if in itself insufficient, nudge in the direction in which the partnership would have Virginia move.
Of course, the state shouldn't have to offer financial incentives to coax local governments into working together to enhance their regions' economic standing, efficiency of services and quality of life. The clear benefits to residents and taxpayers ought to be motivation enough.
But the sorry facts are that municipalities aren't for the most part getting their acts together on their own - and lawmakers have done nothing to remove disincentives for cooperation in an anachronistic local-government structure that tends to make adversaries of cities, counties and towns.
As long as the assembly keeps local governments in that cage, it may need to offer them carrots to get along.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB