Virginia Administrative Code › Title 1 - ADMINISTRATION › Agency 50 - COMMISSION ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT › Chapter 20 - ORGANIZATION AND REGULATIONS OF PROCEDURE › Part IV - Information, Data, and Factors Relative to Mandatory Commission Reviews › Section 1VAC50-20-605 - County-city consolidations

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
In developing its findings of fact and recommendations with
					 respect to a proposed consolidation of a county and a city that would establish
					 an independent city, the commission shall consider the information, data, and
					 factors listed in this section. Local governments filing notice proposing the
					 consolidation of a city and a county to establish an independent city, or any
					 committee of citizens that has been appointed by the circuit court to act for
					 and in lieu of a governing body to perfect a consolidation agreement pursuant
					 to §
										15.2-3531
					 of the Code of Virginia shall, separately or jointly, submit to the commission
					 data and other evidence responsive to each element listed in this section that
					 they deem relevant to the proposed consolidation.
1. Copy of the consolidation
				  agreement.
2. A map showing (i) the
				  location of all municipalities situated within the proposed consolidated city;
				  (ii) all adjoining and adjacent localities; (iii) identifiable unincorporated
				  communities within the proposed consolidated city; (iv) major streets,
				  highways, schools, and other major public facilities; (v) significant
				  geographic features, including mountains and bodies of water; (vi) existing
				  uses of the land, including residential, commercial, industrial, and
				  agricultural; and (vii) information deemed relevant as to the possible future
				  use of the property within the proposed consolidated city and as to its future
				  viability.
3. The past, the
				  estimated current, and the projected population of each locality proposing to
				  consolidate.
4. The population
				  density of the proposed consolidated city based on the most recent United
				  States decennial census or as estimated by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public
				  Service at the University of Virginia.
5. A land-use table showing both the acreage
				  and percentage of land currently devoted to the various categories of land use
				  in the proposed consolidated city.
6. The estimated current and a five-year
				  projection of the future number of public school students enrolled in the
				  public schools in each locality proposing to consolidate and the number of
				  school-age children living in the proposed consolidated city.
7. The assessed values, by major
				  classification for real property, personal property, machinery and tools,
				  merchants' capital, and public service corporation property for the current
				  year and the preceding 10 years for the county and the city proposing to
				  consolidate and the proposed consolidated city.
8. The estimated local property and
				  nonproperty tax rates that will be applicable within the proposed consolidated
				  city.
9. The estimated local
				  revenue collections including tax receipts from real property, personal
				  property, machinery and tools, merchants' capital, business and professional
				  license, consumer utility, and sales taxes and intergovernmental aid, such
				  collections and aid for the preceding 10 years, and projections of the
				  collections and aid within each of the localities proposing to
				  consolidate.
10. The amount of
				  long-term indebtedness of each of the localities proposing to consolidate and
				  the amount and purpose for which that debt has been incurred.
11. Data regarding (i) the urban-type
				  services presently provided by each of the localities proposing to consolidate,
				  (ii) the level of those services to be provided in the proposed consolidated
				  city, (iii) the additional services to be provided and the additional cost to
				  be borne by the proposed consolidated city, and (iv) the means by which the
				  proposed consolidated city shall finance the additional services and
				  costs.
12. The fiscal capacity of
				  the proposed consolidated city to function as an independent city and to
				  provide appropriate services.
13.
				  The impact of the proposed consolidation on compliance with and the promotion
				  of applicable state policies with respect to environmental protection, public
				  planning, education, public transportation, housing, and other state service
				  policies declared by the General Assembly.
14. The impact of the proposed consolidation
				  on the interest of the Commonwealth in promoting strong and viable units of
				  government in the area.
15. The
				  commission's staff shall endeavor to assist the parties involved in proceedings
				  for the consolidation of a county and a city that would establish an
				  independent city by identifying additional data elements considered by the
				  commission to be relevant in the disposition of city-county consolidation
				  issues.
Statutory Authority: §
												15.2-2903
						of the Code of Virginia.