The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE - The Citizens’ Committee to Perfect a Consolidation Agreement passed resolutions regarding zoning and road maintenance for a consolidated government, however, the group ran into a snag on the subject of retirement of debt.
Meeting Tuesday night at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, the committee tabled the debt issue until next week.
Richmond attorney Carter Glass IV told the committee that there were three options for managing the debt of a consolidated government.
First, the existing debt of Alleghany and County and Covington could be merged and the debt retirement would be borne equally by all taxpayers; second, special debt districts could be established that would require citizens to pay for debt related to services provided or third, Covington residents and Alleghany County residents would retire their existing debt incurred prior to consolidation.
Committee member Kevin Terrell said he feared the first option would not be palatable to Alleghany County voters who may feel that they will become responsible for retiring Covington’s debt.
The debt in question is approximately $5.7 million for Covington to close the Peters Mountain Landfill as well as accrued employee vacation time. Alleghany County has about $389,000 in accrued paid time for employees.
The committee determined that any utility debt for water and sewer service will be retired by customers of the particular water and sewer systems.
Service districts for water and sewer would be established and customers would be billed accordingly.
Utility service districts should remain self-sustaining enterprises, Glass said. “Neither service district should subsidize the other,” he added.
Water and sewer service must be a free-standing enterprise and user fees are calculated to cover the operational costs, employee salaries and benefits as well as debt retirement.
Committee member Harry Casey said that school debt held by Alleghany County and Covington are essentially equal and city and county taxpayers should share the school debt.
“The schools are basically a wash. I consider it (schools) a community asset of the consolidated government,” Casey said.
Committee member Bryan Thompson agreed. “People aren’t just getting a debt, they’re getting an asset.”
Casey made a motion to have taxpayers in the former city of Covington pay the landfill closure costs and employee leave; Alleghany County pay for employee leave, and the school debt be shared.
Committee member Wes Walker said while a proposal for shared debt would be the most equitable, it may not be palatable for county voters.
“The city and county (sharing) debt would be the fairest, but the best chance for (consolidation) passing is separating the debt.”
Counting the new sewage treatment plant project, Alleghany County citizens have $2,700 in debt per capita. Covington taxpayers have $6,591 in debt per capita, mostly due to debt from construction of two new schools.
If all debt was shared equally by citizens of a consolidated locality, the per capita debt would be $3,708.
“I don’t know if (county voters) are going to go for it,” Committee member John Stone said.
He added, “It would be nice to stir everything together in one pot but I don’t know if that’s going to float.”
Regarding school debt, Thompson said the new consolidated school board would determine which school students would attend, therefore, the school system would be a shared asset of all citizens.
“I think we’re all in this together. The school board can decide how the schools will be configured,” he said.
Casey said he felt his motion was “a good compromise.”
“The residents of the city of Covington are responsible for that debt whether we consolidate or not,” Casey noted.
Committee co-chairman Joe Carpenter said voters need to realize the value of the assets they will receive as a result of consolidation although it difficult to assign a dollar figure.
“To me, how do we determine what value the new community gets for the new schools or the landfill; how can we put a number on those kinds of things?”
Committee member Pearl Miller said she is concerned that voters from both localities would be unwilling to pay the other localities debt. “I don’t want that to be the reason they won’t accept the plan.”
The committee unanimously passed 9-0-1, with Annette Comer absent, the zoning proposal for the new government.
The existing zoning regulations for both Covington and Alleghany County would remain in effect at the onset of the consolidated government and the new governing body would have up to five years to re-write the zoning ordinances.
Glass said that any existing land use regulations for a particular parcel of land would be grandfathered under the new government.
“Any lawful use that exists at the time of the merger will remain in effect,” Glass said.
Regarding highway and road maintenence, the committee passed 9-0-1 with Comer absent to maintain the status quo for road maintenance.
Streets in what would be the former Covington boundaries would be maintained by the locality and roads in Alleghany County would be maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“It seems prudent to maintain what you have with roads,” Casey said.
“I don’t see the need to re-invent the wheel on a lot of this,” Stone said.
In prior consolidations in Virginia, Glass said the 10-year limit on VDOT maintaining roads no longer exists and an agreement can continue indefinitely if a city form of government is established. In a county form of government, Glass said language must be written specifically in a consolidation pact to maintain the status quo.
“The status quo is clear enough for me to know how to draft it,” Glass added.
In other matters before the committee, Glass said either a county or city form of government would not limit citizens’ ability to hunt or discharge firearms within the boundaries of the consolidated locality.
A consolidated government can establish its own areas that allow hunting and firearm use.
Comer, who was out of town on business, listened to the meeting via a telephone conference call.
However, Glass said that according to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, she could listen to the meeting’s proceedings but could not speak nor vote.
Members of the committee read a letter from Alleghany County Circuit Court Judge Malfourd W. Trumbo regarding payment of legal services for the committee.
The Alleghany Foundation has granted $30,000 in matching funds for legal services. Covington and Alleghany County will equally split the remainder of the fees up to $15,000. Once the $60,000 is exhausted, the city and county will share costs based on population.
