AS IN THE metropolitan area at large, business leaders in Anne Arundel County are recognizing that city and county are truly economic colleagues, not competitors.

By uniting, the Anne Arundel Trade Council and the Greater Annapolis Chamber of Commerce are acknowledging their shared economic interests.

The artificial animosities of the past are irrelevant.

Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, one political jurisdiction inside another, are inextricably linked.

To the outside world, they constitute one market. A Glen Burnie business has the same concerns as one on Annapolis' West Street. The new Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce will represent the county's overall economic community rather than its segments.

In similar fashion, Anne Arundel is part of the larger Baltimore-Washington market. Anne Arundel business leaders should continue to be open to join with other business groups to promote this regional market.

Anne Arundel government officials should likewise emulate the cooperative attitude of the business community. Relations between Annapolis and the county have often been childish and rocky.

Nearly every year, conflict swirls about the amount of the tax differential -- the reduced county property tax rate that Annapolitans pay to account for services, such as police and fire protection, they support with their own city tax. County Executive Janet S. Owens vows to improve city-county relations, so negotiations on the tax differential, we hope, may be more amicable this year.

Cooperation should not end there. A genuine regional planning effort needs to be made in the Annapolis area. The horrific traffic congestion around Annapolis cannot be eased unless the city and county agree on the future of areas such as the Annapolis Neck peninsula. Officials should follow the chambers' lead.

Pub Date: 12/21/98