When an Independent City reverts back to the status of an incorporated town
it gives up the responsibility for maintaining a public school system and a
court system, which devolves to the county. So if a city that crossed into
two counties reverted to incorporated town, it would mean that the residents
of those areas would be served by the schools and courts of the respective
counties. It could get a bit sticky and I suspect that an urban area with
population of Richmond would not follow that path. The town usually maintains
some law enforcement, street care, water and sewer service, building codes,
etc., while letting the county provide such things as schools, courts and
jails, and libraries. The downside is that residents get two tax bills, for
more services of course, that depending on how elaborate the town services
get can become quite burdensome. The upside is that towns can much more
readily annex adjunct suburban areas, with their valuable tax base, than can
independent cities since such annexation takes that area completely off the
county's tax rolls.

Jim Hershman

T Greg Evans wrote:

> The City of South Boston was the first to revert several years ago, and
> in 2001 the City of Clifton Forge reverted. I know Charlottesville
> extorts a lot of money from Albemarle by threatening reversion. All of
> these are clearly "part" of a specific county. What happens if a city
> like Richmond which has territory taken from two counties reverts?
>
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