May 02 2008
Moratorium on Annexation Proposed
An N.C. House committee has proposed a one-year moratorium on city-initiated and satellite annexations to give the legislature time to re-evaluate annexation laws. Legislators say some cities are taking advantage of the laws to cherry-pick areas with high home values and do not always provide new residents with services quickly.
Committee members expect to present the bill this month after the legislative session begins May 13.
Legislators are not optimistic they can get a moratorium passed by June 30, which would prevent the city from annexing thousands of residents in the Cardinal area northwest of Greensboro.
Two full months isn’t enough time to get a bill passed? Granted, they aren’t in session every day but still. North Carolina’s annexation policies definitely cross the line of being unamerican in my book.
Proponents of annexation argue that residents immediately outside of cities often reap the benefits of urban life — the arts, better roads, medical services, parks — without paying the taxes that fund some of those things.
Proponents totally miss the point of the opposition. It doesn’t matter whether or not these people do earn benefits from it. They are forcibly moving your property into their city without your permission. That is morally wrong.
