Allegheny County taxpayers would save as much as $100 million a year if municipalities consolidated along school district lines, former county Chief Executive Jim Roddey estimated at a Downtown forum last night.

"It's absolute insanity for us to continue with 130 municipalities," Roddey said during a panel discussion on municipal consolidation organized by the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project.

"I believe that the only possible hope for this region is to start some type of consolidation," said Roddey, a member of the state-appointed oversight board that is wrestling with the city of Pittsburgh's financial problems.

The former chief executive suggested merging the county's 130 municipalities so that their boundaries conform to those of the 43 school districts.

Three of his four fellow panelists embraced the proposal.

Russ Hardiman, elected to the Kilbuck Township board of supervisors last year on a pro-consolidation platform, said citizens should not fear municipal mergers.

If Kilbuck merged with Ohio Township, as he has proposed, "I would wake up in the same house. I would drive the same roads. My children would go to the same schools. We would go to the same church," he said.

The main difference, Hardiman said, is that his taxes would be lower.

Evan Baker, a former Homestead councilman, also dismissed concerns that municipalities would lose their identities in a merger.

"If you look at the city of Pittsburgh, each of its neighborhoods has its own identity," Baker said.

Former Mt. Lebanon Commissioner Dick Walker had an easy time accepting Roddey's idea, since his municipality has its own school district.

The only panelist to balk at the idea was former Oakmont Manager Adeline Brown.

She said that Oakmont taxpayers provide 90 percent of the tax revenue for the Riverview School District, which also encompasses Verona.

"Merging with Verona [to form a single school district] has not worked to our betterment," Brown said.

Roddey, though, urged relatively affluent municipalities like Oakmont to accept consolidations, even if their taxpayers have to help support less prosperous neighbors.

"Some of the more affluent communities are going to have to understand that in the long run, it will benefit them," he said. "We can't survive with 130 municipalities."

If municipalities refuse to consolidate, Roddey warned, "We could be Toledo with a football team and nobody would move into those nice houses in Oakmont."

Roddey claimed the $100 million in savings would come from eliminating duplicated administrations in municipal governments.

"You do know that a lot of nephews, cousins and uncles will be out of work if you do this," he joked.

But he acknowledged that the $100 million figure is a rough estimate, not the product of any study.

Roddey, Hardiman and Baker agreed that citizens must lead any merger movement, since most municipal politicians oppose consolidation.