Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993 TAG: 9307220254
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER and DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The cities' financial problems are the state's problems, not the problems of urban counties," Cranwell, D-Vinton, said about the city's proposal to mount a lobbying campaign to regain the right of Virginia's larger cities to annex.
Cities should seek more state aid, not restoration of the right to grab land from neighboring counties, Cranwell said.
Meanwhile, Roanoke County officials called on Roanoke Mayor David Bowers to open a dialogue on ways to move the regional economy forward.
County officials are more than a little miffed that Bowers has proposed merging valley governments and lifting the annexation moratorium without even giving them a courtesy call.
"He has not called a single person in the county," Hollins District Supervisor Bob Johnson said. "He ought to be building bridges, not blowing them up."
Johnson said consolidation and annexation are mere gimmicks that detract from important cooperative ventures such as an agreement to expand the regional sewage treatment plant.
"To say that annexing Roanoke County land alone will solve their problems is ludicrous. I think those are excuses employed by those who are not doing their job."
Cranwell, who represents part of Roanoke County, said he would use his influence in the General Assembly to fight any attempt to repeal the annexation ban.
Under a 14-year-old law that gave nine suburban counties immunity from annexation, the General Assembly increased funds for the cities for law enforcement and other services.
The additional money for the cities was supposed to help offset their loss of the right to annex. But Roanoke and other central cities contend the funds are not enough to offset the unfair burden of caring for the poor.
Cranwell said the legislature may need to reassess the so-called annexation funding to determine whether the cities deserve more money.
"It might be appropriate to revisit the funding for law enforcement and other services," Cranwell said.
Cranwell said he's disappointed that city officials "want to turn the clock back to the early 1970s" and raise the specter of annexation.
"Annexation is wrong and it doesn't cure the ills of cities. It pits one government against another and is counterproductive," Cranwell said.
Annexation never was intended to be a procedure to boost the taxbases of cities, he said. It was designed as a way to extend urban services to developing areas when counties could not provide them, he said.
Cranwell said the threat of annexation skews the planning process because cities and counties focus more on what will help or hurt in an annexation case rather than what is best for the metropolitan area.
by CNB