The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE – Consolidating the governments of Alleghany County and Covington may not lead to great cost savings.
Tuesday, Alleghany County Administrator John Strutner and Covington City Manager John Doane testified before the Citizens Committee to Perfect a Consolidation Agreement. The committee is continuing to gather facts as it works to meet a court-imposed June deadline for developing a proposal to consolidate the Alleghany County and Covington governments.
Strutner and Doane were joined by several county and city department heads as they answered the committee’s questions Tuesday night. The meeting was held at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College.
Strutner and Doane both declined to express their personal opinions about consolidation, noting they both carry out the wishes of their respective governing bodies.
“The benefits of consolidation remain to be determined,” Doane said. “It depends on the nature of the proposed consolidation plan. To get people to vote for it, it’s going to have to be positive and demonstrate to people that it’s worth voting for.”
“My board will probably make some sort of public statement after this committee puts its consolidation proposal together, but they are going to have to see what that animal looks like first,” Strutner said.
The citizens’ committee, comprised of five representatives each from Alleghany County and Covington, began its deliberations in December after it was appointed by Alleghany County Circuit Court Judge Malfourd Trumbo. The committee was appointed after Covington City Council and the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors missed an October deadline for negotiating a consolidation agreement. The deadline was established after registered voters in the county and city filed petitions in circuit court calling for consolidation of the two governments.
Strutner said the petitions were likely spurred by a May 2008 study released by the non-profit Alleghany Foundation. The study said that more than $7 million in savings could be realized annually if the governments of Alleghany County and Covington were consolidated. The report was prepared for the Foundation by K.W. Poore & Associates, a Richmond consulting firm.
“I’m sure the Poore report was a motivating factor in that petition,” Strutner said.
Strutner and Doane both questioned the cost savings cited in the study, saying that lacked justification.
Strutner said consolidation will probably not bring about the level of workforce reductions that many people in the Highlands envision. He said governments are service intensive and rely on people.
Combing city and county schools is another area often cited as a cost-saving area, but Strutner said even that is not necessarily true. He said a study prepared last year for elected officials noted that consolidating the schools may cost more money.
“The workload is not going to be any different in the field. I would say that any job reductions would probably be in the teens. The advantages that you would see over time would be economies of scale,” he said.
Strutner also noted that consolidating the governments would not increase prospects for economic development in the Highlands. He said potential companies look at many factors when evaluating an area and the fact that multiple local governments exist in the Highlands does not factor in their decision making.
“There would be no advantages to economic development if we are one entity,” he said.
Even through Covington City Council and the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors reached agreements in several areas during their almost one year of consolidation talks, they could not agree on which form of government would best meet the needs of residents of the Highlands. Covington City Council favors a city form of government, while a majority county supervisors favor county form. Doane and Strutner merely reiterated their respective governing bodies’ stances when questioned about the advantages of city and county government Tuesday night.
Doane said city government in Virginia is more flexible when it comes to debt issuance. Cities have greater revenue capacity under Virginia law, he said. Law enforcement is more accountable because overseen by a chief executive officer – chief of police, Doane said and he added that a city “is more responsive to urbanized needs and demands.”
Strutner said county government is more fiscally conservative and would better meet the character of the Highlands, which is rural in nature. He said counties have no ceilings when issuing debt and school funding to a consolidated Alleghany County would be advantageous. Alleghany County receives money for pre-kindergarten programs and Covington does not, he noted.
The contentious issue of road maintenance was also discussed Tuesday night. County officials have maintained that the Virginia Department of Transportation would likely transfer the responsibility of maintaining roads and bridges to the local government if Alleghany County and Covington become a consolidated city. VDOT currently maintains roads and bridges in the county, while Covington receives a yearly allocation to assist with road and bridge projects.
“If we become a city, we believe that the state will do everything they can to dump the roads into the city system,” Strutner said.
In 2009, Covington received $859,236 from the state to help maintain the city’s roads and bridges,Public Works Director Jack Munsey said. The city spent $911,662.
Munsey predicts that VDOT will eventually stop maintain secondary roads in counties.
“The only business VDOT wants to be in is the interstates. It’s coming,” he said.
Water and sewer issues were also discussed Tuesday. Alleghany County purchases water from Covington and Clifton Forge and meters its water and sewer customers. Covington only meters businesses and multiple residential dwellings.
“The city of Covington does not need water meters. We have an adequate water supply,” he said.
The committee learned that most of recreation programs in the city and county are already shared. Bath County is even part of some youth league sports programs offered by the jurisdictions.
Chad Williams, Alleghany County’s director of parks and recreation, said joint recreation programs are common for Virginia localities.
“We are already working well together on our programs,” Williams said.
Covington’s Parks and Recreation Director Allen Dressler agreed.
“I don’t see any advantages to a consolidated situation,” he said.
Alleghany County consolidation committee representative Annette Comer said the committee has learned that the local governments are already cooperating on several fronts. Comer said there is a false perception that the two jurisdictions cannot get along.
“We have seen many areas of the two localities working very well together. It’s said that the citizens in this area never get to see this stuff.”
Done agreed, saying: “The level of differences between the city and county is not unusual and it is far less than in other places I have been.”
The committee will next meet Tuesday, March 2. Ed Plunkett, a former attorney in Augusta County, will appear before the committee, along with Covington Fire Chief Wes Walker and Alleghany County Public Safety Director Ryan Muterspaugh. Plunkett was involved in past consolidation talks between Augusta County and Staunton.
The committee has filed a grant application with The Alleghany Foundation to cover legal costs. The Alleghany Highlands Chamber of Commerce has agreed to serve as a fiscal agent for the funds if the grant is approved. A court hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, to appoint legal counsel for the consolidation committee. The hearing will be held in Alleghany County Circuit Court. The committee has asked the court to appoint Richmond attorney Carter Glass IV as its legal counselor.
