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

DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995                   TAG: 9511020056
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MERGER

Voters in Bedford city and county should bear that in mind when deciding whether to distort their two jurisdictions into a bizarre and superficial supercity.

Actually, it would be a joke on Virginia's leaders.

Let the governor explain to travel writers at their annual confabs in New York City that Virginia's largest city, and the fifth largest city in the United States, is Bedford: a mostly rural county with a town-like center - not a skyscraper in sight.

Let state legislators interpret for colleagues in other states how this grotesquerie was created to avoid the remotest possibility of a land grab by the medium-size city of Lynchburg - never mind that such annexations have been outlawed for 20 years and Lynchburg says it's not interested anyway.

We can't wait to see the charts they'll use to show how they designed Virginia's unique local-government schism - er, system. A system that includes (in addition to traditional units and those independent cities surrounded by counties): towns that have reverted to counties, counties that have become ``rurbin cities,'' and now possibly a shire - all because localities are struggling with often irrational arrangements in lieu of any helpful reform from Richmond.

After the laughing subsides, will Bedford voters have accomplished anything by merging what is now a nicely functioning small city and county?

Well, presumably, protection forever from an annexation suit by Big Bad Lynchburg in the event a moratorium against such moves is ever lifted.

According to promoters of consolidation, this would not just protect the Forest suburban tax base. It would promote a climate of stability, thereby fostering long-range planning for Bedford's future.

Maybe so. But state legislators are unlikely to lift the annexation ban without making other major changes in laws affecting local governments' structure. (The sooner the better.) Because no one knows what those changes might be, it's unrealistic to assume that a vote to become a supercity assures eternal stability.

Long-range planning for development is, of course, necessary - especially in an area growing as rapidly in population as Bedford is. But the existing city and county seem already in accord on that. Their willingness to cooperate is evidenced by several public services jointly provided.

There is no comparison, for instance, with the fragmentation, and costs of fragmentation, of local governments in the Roanoke Valley.

The only really good reason for a merger in Bedford is to send a message to state legislators that local governmental structure has become a laughing stock, thanks to them. This message should be evident enough, though, in the mere fact that this vote is taking place.