Questions addressed about consolidation in Shenango Valley

The issue has generated local debate and some suggestions from state officials.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Voters in five Shenango Valley municipalities are being asked to vote Tuesday on what some officials say is the most important public issue they may ever decide.
Sharon, Farrell, Hermitage, Wheatland and Sharpsville voters will decide if the five municipalities should consolidate into a single new municipality to be known as Shenango Valley.
The issue has prompted a great deal of debate and numerous public forums, and even state officials have gotten into the picture.
Gov. Ed Rendell sent an open letter to the Valley saying he thinks consolidation would be good for the Valley, and, earlier, Kathleen McGinty, state Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, and Dennis Yablonsky, Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development, made similar comments during visits to this area.
In the end, the voters in the five municipalities must decide.
Here are some questions and answers regarding the issue.
Q. What is a consolidation?
A. It will mean a complete joining of all five municipalities in all aspects of municipal governments. The municipalities of Hermitage, Farrell, Sharon, Sharpsville and Wheatland would case to exist and be replaced by a new city called Shenango Valley.
Q. How will consolidation affect local school districts?
A. It won't. The Sharon, Farrell (including Wheatland), Hermitage and Sharpsville school districts would remain intact and independent.
Q. What is the ballot question?
A. Voters will be asked to say yes or no to: "Shall the City of Sharon and the City of Hermitage and the City of Farrell and the Borough of Sharpsville and the Borough of Wheatland consolidate as a single home rule third class city to be named the City of Shenango Valley, governed with the existing Home Rule Charter of the City of Hermitage but with a nine-member legislative body, five of which will be elected, one from each of the five new wards, and the other four elected from the new city at large?"
Q. How will the wards be determined?
A. That will be up to the transition team that actually sets up the new government, but most likely, it will be based on an even division of population of the new city which would have a total of about 44,000 residents.
Q. What vote is required for the measure to pass?
A. A majority vote in each of the municipalities. If voters in any single municipality turn it down, the issue dies.
Q. What happens if the measure doesn't pass?
A. The specific issue as written couldn't be brought to the ballot again for five years, but a different version of consolidation, such as involving only two or three municipalities, could appear as early as next year.
Q. What happens if it passes?
A. Pennsylvania law provides that the elected officials of the five municipalities serve as a transition team to mold the exact internal structure of the new government, based on the guidelines in the ballot question. The officials could opt to appoint an independent transition team, if they wish.
Q. When would a new government be in place?
A. Pennsylvania law only specifies that the transition be completed within a "reasonable" time period. It doesn't spell out any deadlines. Backers of consolidation say it would likely be a three-year process during which time the five local governments would continue to operate.
Q. How will the new government look?
A. No one knows, other that it would be a home-rule city under the Hermitage Home Rule Charter with a nine-member governing council. All other details such as police, fire and municipal services and the tax structure to fund them would be determined by the transition team.
Q. Will some municipalities get a tax break in a consolidated city?
A. Again, no one knows, but consolidation proponents say there will be economies found by eliminating duplication of services and personnel, particularly elected officials.
Citizens for the Valley, the ad hoc group that got the issue on the ballot, has suggested the new city follow the Hermitage tax structure of a higher wage tax but lower property taxes. That model could provide substantial property tax relief in Sharon and Farrell, in particular. The tax issue, however, will be determined by the transition team.
Q. Will I lose full-time fire service if I live in Sharon?
A. Sharon is the only one of the five municipalities served by a full-time fire department. The others have either all-volunteer or partially paid departments. How fire service will be provided in the new city will be decided by the transition team.
Q. What happens to each municipality's assets?
A. All municipal assets become part of the new city.
Q. What are the benefits of consolidation?
A. According to Citizens for the Valley, taxes will be lower overall, although perhaps not in Hermitage, and the continuous rise in property taxes will be slowed. The group estimates about $630,000 annual savings in basic government operations alone just by consolidating the five municipal buildings. Government will be streamlined into a single, professional operation that will provide a more efficient delivery of municipal services. Consolidation would create the third-largest municipality in western Pennsylvania, giving the Valley more political clout and making it a larger, more noticeable draw for new business a well as government grants. Economic development can be planned on a Valley-wide basis and create more and better employment opportunities for young people.
Q. What are the negatives?
A. Hermitage Citizens Against Consolidation, another ad hoc group, said the biggest problem is there is no consolidation plan to map out a new government, except for what is specifically found in the ballot question. The group predicts higher taxes and lower services for Hermitage residents and warns that Hermitage, which would make up about 30 percent of the new city's population, would be paying amore than 50 percent of the taxes, based on current property assessments.
The group feels a consolidation would be a step backward for Hermitage, clearly the most prosperous of the five municipalities. Hermitage officials also have warned that the city could lose its volunteer fire department, which they claim is a $1 million-a-year department costing taxpayers only $350,000 a year.
Q. What happens if it turns out, after a couple of years, that consolidation isn't working?
A. State law makes provisions for consolidating municipalities but has no method for consolidated municipalities to separate again and return to their original status.