Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 25, 1994 TAG: 9401250112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
H.F. and Anita Garner led a media parade from City Hall to the courthouse to the county administration building, leaving behind white boxes filled with almost 250 pages of signatures collected over the last three months.
Petitions were left for Bedford City Manager Jack Gross, Circuit Judge William Sweeney and Bedford County Administrator Bill Rolfe.
"We think it's urgent to get the process started," H.F. Garner said. "The study plan will take a year, and that puts us at February 1995," just months before a state moratorium on annexation expires in July 1995.
Consolidation would permanently halt any annexation efforts by Lynchburg or any other neighboring municipality, because cities cannot annex land from other cities.
Although Lynchburg Mayor Julian Adams has repeatedly denied plans to annex Forest, he told local lawmakers this month that his city could die without additional sources of revenue.
"That makes the threat real," H.F. Garner said.
Most consolidation efforts elsewhere in Virginia have failed - often voted down by county residents afraid of higher taxes. In Bedford, city residents are concerned they might finance rural growth and lose services such as police patrols.
The city and county governments already share a number of services, including the Health Department, social services, court system, library, schools and extension service.
But residents of both city and county would be harmed if the affluent Forest area were lost to Lynchburg, Garner said.
"There's an illusion that distance protects you from annexation," he said in front of City Hall. "It's not true. If the county were to lose the 25,000 people in Forest that pay over 30 percent of the county's taxes, everyone will be left to pick up the tab."
The petitions now move to the city and county registrars, who will verify signatures as those of registered voters. County Registrar Marie Batten anticipates that process could take two weeks.
After verification, city and county officials will appoint a committee to develop a consolidation plan. Under state law, the committee has a year to produce a plan. If it fails to create one, a circuit judge could name a citizens' committee charged with the same task.
Once a plan is presented, voters will head to the polls in a special referendum to decide the fate of consolidation.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.