Don’t sign petition until you read this

Joe Daniel's heart may be in the right place, but his hand is clearly reaching for your wallet.

When Mr. Daniel and his volunteers began collecting signatures in earnest this weekend for their town/county consolidation petition, many of them did so with the best interest of our community at heart. They believed that their petition would force the town and county to study the consequences of consolidating, that it would force both our governmental bodies to begin to work together instead of sniping, and that a consolidation would save taxpayers money.

The reality is that Mr. Daniel has no idea what a consolidated town/county would look like (he'll admit to not knowing how it would work or how to put it together), and he has no idea what our tax bills will be when the smoke clears. Well, after doing a little reading of the Code of Virginia, I know one thing for certain: We're going to burn a lot of taxpayer money making that smoke.

Let me share with you what I learned, and how that might differ from the message Mr. Daniel is spreading:
Myth I: This petition will force the town and county to "study" consolidation:

If one of our neighbors asked us to sign their petition to get on the ballot for School Board, we'd consider it rude not to sign - even if we knew we weren't going to vote for him. This petition is different. It's more like your neighbor asking for your checkbook because even if you vote against consolidation in the end, you'll still end up paying for the process.

When the required signatures are collected and certified, the town and county are required by law to start the consolidation process. They have one year from that date to present an actual plan for merging. If they can't work together and get it done in that time, a judge will appoint a citizen panel to do the job.

I can't stress enough that once these signatures are collected, the train has left the station. There wouldn't be any "study" done at that point. Unless you consider "learning by doing," consolidation would be in the works.

Myth II: This consolidation will stop the bickering.
Let me get this straight: because the town and county can't get along, we're going to make them sit down and figure out how to merge. That's a shotgun wedding if I've ever seen one.

At that point, these guys won't be fighting over a couple of acres or some water service, they'll be fighting over their jobs and the jobs of their employees - something I'm guessing they'll feel even more passionate about.

Myth III: Consolidation will save taxpayer's money.
Daniel and crew are taking for granted that one government will cost less than two, but there are several reasons why this consolation will end up costing taxpayers.

The first, and most obvious, is that we're going to be paying for a yearlong blood feud (which means us town taxpayers are going to be paying twice for both sides' bullets). And according to the code, each side is allowed to bring in three extra mercenaries to figure out the details.

Add to this the cost of bringing in staff from every department on both sides to meet with the lawyers and put together the required information (a complete inventory and value assessment of all assets is required by code).

Now we're talking about a lot of overtime, or essentially pulling these people from the jobs we actually pay them to do. Not to mention we could lose our best employees, who save us money by doing their jobs correctly. (Anyone who's gone through layoffs can tell you, if you don't jump early, you can end up unemployed for a long time. The employees with the best hope of moving on, of course, are the good ones.)

I should also point out that all the money we've just spent in the last two paragraphs is unbudgeted, so expect a huge bill at the end of the year, whether voters actually go through with the consolidation or not.

The second reason these savings aren't so obvious is in the code itself. Because most mergers are done with the consent of both sides (Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County, for instance, merged to protect the county from being annexed by Norfolk), there's nothing in the code that says the town and county have to eliminate jobs. Both sides can insist that 100 percent of their employees are necessary. Some may lose a title, but they would still have their jobs with their current salaries.

If the Town Council and Board of Supervisors want to, they can even put a feasible plan on paper that allows them all to essentially keep their jobs. (Don't believe me- Read the code. If I could get that out of one afternoon, what do you think six lawyers can come up with-) Joe Daniel doesn't get to decide if the consolidation plan meets his standards - at that point the "new" plan, which would really be the status quo, would go to the voters.

Myth IV: There are no other options.
Frustration levels are high and people want to see county and town get along, so it's an easy sell to say you'll make them. But we have other options:

We could replace every incumbent. Mr. Daniel and his supporters could field a collection of candidates (this year for BOS and next year for Town Council) who pledge to work together. Mr. Daniel already has a dedicated collection of volunteers - if any of them ran on this platform, they'd get my vote.

And once that new group was in place, or even before, those interested in "studying" consolidation can request we bring in consultants and pay for an actual study.

Before we get too much further down this road, and certainly before you sign that petition,  I'd encourage everyone to read the code for themselves (e-mail me if you'd like a copy).

The time to discuss consolidation is now, before we're all paying for Mr. Daniel's civics lesson.

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SEE SEPARATE FILES  UNDER OPINION ON CODE OF VIRGINIA ON CONSOLIDATION