Vote highlights problems with annexation

By Mayor Dan Williams for The News Courier
mayordan@ci.athens.al.us

September 29, 2008 01:39 pm

— There has been a lot said about the annexation of property inside Limestone County by the cities of Decatur, Huntsville, and Madison. Much of what has been said is critical, but some of it has been positive. All the landowners that I have heard comment upon the situation feel they should be allowed to petition any city, even those outside Limestone County, to annex their property. I think most of them are looking to increase the value of their property if they want to sell, or they feel one city may be more able to provide services to them if they wish to live on the property.
The fact is that annexation by these outside cities is legal, and efforts we have made to halt it have not been successful. Annexation by these outside cities creates problems for local governments and Limestone County residents, and we will have to deal with them now and in the future.
One example of this is now upon us, and it is a tax increase. The City of Madison had special legislation passed last year, which resulted in a constitutional amendment being placed on the 2008 November ballot. This referendum will put the issue to the citizens of Alabama to approve a vote to impose an additional 10.5 mils for Madison city schools on properties belonging to the citizens residing in that portion of the City of Madison located inside Limestone County.
If a majority of Madison citizens who reside inside Madison County vote for that referendum, and a majority of the citizens of Alabama vote for the referendum, then the vote to impose the additional 10.5 mils will take place. That vote will not include the people’s participation, but will be voted by the Madison City Council. Those responsible for this complicated amendment say that the citizens, who reside inside the City of Madison inside Limestone County, are not paying the 10.5 mils for Madison schools as are the citizens of Madison who reside inside Madison County.
The chances of this issue passing seem to be very good. The portion of the City of Madison inside Madison County has more than 20,000 registered voters, and the portion of the city inside Limestone County has 2,000 or less registered voters. This means that the Limestone County portion of the city of Madison is in the minority as far as voting is concerned, and probably will be for many more years. I really think a majority of those 20,000 voters inside Madison County will be glad to vote to impose an additional 10.5 mils on Limestone County residents, and not increase their own taxes.
The governing body of the city of Madison has found an innovative way to place the taxation decisions of Madison County residents upon the citizens of Limestone County in the name of equalization of ad valorem taxes. To ensure the success of the tax-raising measure, the amendment provides that the majority of voters in the State approves, and the majority of the voters of the City of Madison residing in Madison and Limestone Counties fail to approve (NO VOTE), then the amendment would allow the governing body of the City of Madison to call for subsequent elections every twelve months, hereafter, without legislative approval.
I’m not sure that the citizens of Madison who live in Limestone County know the effects of this referendum, but if they do they may be in agreement that they need to pay more taxes to support the City of Madison schools.
As a citizen of Athens, I won’t be paying this proposed increase, but I am concerned about the ramifications if it passes. To have Madison County voters impose taxes upon Limestone County citizens does not seem to be a good thing. I am sure whatever method either of these outside cities come up with to stick it to the citizens of Limestone County, the others will soon follow with the same thing. Each of them will also be claiming their fair share of the Limestone County taxes that we have voted upon ourselves and not upon them.