Just kidding:) Bet that woke you up though.
Actually, the State Codes allow for that to happen. And, in this hypothetical situation, this newly created bigger city could work to annex the Town of Christiansburg and Blacksburg to create one huge City County. It has been done before in other jurisdictions.
Although there would be issues of 'loss of identity' of the towns, I can see where there would be a few positives to taxpayers in doing this. There would be only one government group to finance, only one Council to support, only one Planning Commission, only one Planning Dept, etc., etc.
It would be possible for the jurisdictions to combine the resources they already have into one tidy package that would eliminate problems with meetings being scheduled simultaneously. Property owners and developers would only have the one set of regulations to work with and fees would be consistent throughout the City County. It would be much more feasible to have curb-side recycling, and costs of managing web pages would be minimized. Taxes would be equally distributed without one jurisdiction ramping up taxes for some things but not others. Voting would be consolidated and rather than having to keep up with 2 or more 'teams of elected officials', there would only be the one common group.
Additionally, this approach would eliminate all the hoopla on boundary line adjustments and annexations because there wouldn't be anything to dispute.
While I'm not supporting this as the best way to do business, it is an option according to State Codes. What it does tell me is that:
- the need for open, transparent government is crucial
- the role of citizens in government is a MUST not an elective
- citizens need to take their voting rights very, very seriously
- government has a responsibility to educate the public
- elected and appointed officials MUST keep themselves apprised of changes in State Code
- And...most importantly, citizens can make things happen on their own if their government fails to meet their needs.
Anybody out there have any good argument for the other side of this hypothetical situation? Why should Christiansburg and Blacksburg remain Towns? What is the benefit to citizens? Come on and help me out, it's really hard to play 'devil's advocate' with only one person:)