HENRY COUNTY, Va. – As one Southside city considers reverting to a town to save money, Henry County officials are trying to hit the brakes.
This week, Henry County supervisors approved a legislative agenda and plan to ask the General Assembly to pass a new bill that would let voters decide whether a city could revert to a town.
Right now, that decision is mostly left up to individual city officials.
Martinsville has been considering reverting from a city to a town, meaning certain financial responsibilities would fall back onto Henry County.
The county administrator, Tim Hall, said that would mean more money out of county taxpayers’ wallets.
“We just think that, you know, it’s inherently unfair -- for not just Henry County, that we may have to face this in the near future, but any other county -- that we really don’t have a say in the process until the process already starts," Hall said.
County officials are hoping lawmakers consider their proposal when legislators are back in session next year.