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This study examines the degree to which citizen perceptions of the need for government reform and economic development relate to their support for citycounty consolidation. Findings from a study of residents in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia, a metropolitan area that attempted merger in 1991, indicate that attitudinal dimensions of reform and economic development are more esficacious in predicting support for, or opposition to, consolidation than either locational or sociodemographic factors. The authors conclude that economic development, as a consolidation issue, may play a dual role in merger outcomes, increasing supporr of those who do not favor reform but desire growth and diminishing support of reformers who oppose growth.