Friday, July 30, 2004
Lower taxes and smaller government are two points being pushed by the group.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- The petitions have been filed and now it's up to the Citizens for the Valley to convince voters in five Shenango Valley municipalities that forming one new government is best for their future.
Calling the petitions "the voice of the residents of the Shenango Valley," Gregg Buchanan of Hermitage, representing the citizens group, presented petitions to the Mercer County Election Office on Thursday signed by 905 people asking that the consolidation question be put on the Nov. 2 ballot.
It would appear they got more signers from all five municipalities -- Sharon, Farrell, Hermitage, Sharpsville and Wheatland -- than they needed.
James Bennington, director of voter registration and elections, said that 5 percent of the registered voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election had to sign the petitions to get a referendum on the ballot.
Buchanan's numbers showed they got 393 signatures in Hermitage, 215 in Sharon, 206 in Farrell, 70 in Sharpsville and 21 in Wheatland.
According to Bennington, they needed only 252, 167, 76, 63 and 10 signers, respectively.
His office will review each signature to make sure the person is a registered voter in the municipality in which they signed the petition, and, if enough names are verified, the question will go on the ballot.
Majority must approve
Buchanan acknowledged that it's an all-or-nothing deal. The majority of voters in all five municipalities must approve consolidation or the issue dies. State law says it would be five years before it could be considered again.
The question asks if the five municipalities should consolidate as a single city to be called Shenango Valley, which would be governed by a home-rule charter and a nine-member governing council.
If it passes, the Pennsylvania Municipal Consolidation or Merger Act spells out what the current five municipal governments must do to prepare for the new government, Buchanan said.
Results of study
The citizens group launched its efforts to get the issue before the people after a four-year study commissioned and largely handled by the five municipal governments failed to come up with any recommendations, either for or against a consolidation.
That study laid out a timetable for the referendum issue, Buchanan said, noting that it shows the current governments remaining in place through 2007 as the new government is formed, and the election of a new governing council in 2007 that would take over in 2008.
The study also showed there are savings to be had through consolidation, he said, estimating that, with certain reductions, the total $18 million budgets for the five municipalities could be reduced to $13 million, a savings of $5 million a year.
Stephen Theiss of Sharon, a member of the citizens group, said government costs would drop by having only nine elected officials instead of 30 and there would likely be reductions in municipal staffs as well.
One of those cuts would be a reduction in the police forces.
The five municipalities have a total of about 90 officers now, but the study said police costs could be cut by $1 million a year by reducing that number to 70 officers, Buchanan said.
All of those savings would translate into property tax savings or at least result in the slowing down of tax increases, Buchanan said.
The five school districts in those municipalities would remain in place as totally separate entities.
Citizens for the Valley has yet to map out how it will persuade voters to support the consolidation, Buchanan said.