Columbia aldermen have a lot of information to digest after preliminary numbers have been assembled about annexation.
Consultant Mike Slaughter discussed the data with the board for more than hour during a special meeting Tuesday and will likely continue discussions at this Tuesday’s meeting.
The study shows if the city annexes the currently proposed area:
• The police, fire, court, parks and recreation, and city clerk’s offices would not require additional employees, but the street and code enforcement divisions would.
• There would be a 1.7 percent decrease in the percentage of black residents. Any change in minority voting strength requires U.S. Justice Department approval.
• The city land area would jump from 6.9 square miles to 15.8 square miles.
• Additional annual sales tax revenue in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, would have been about $99,000. In actuality that figure would probably be more because a few key businesses in the proposed annexation area were not included in the initial analysis.
Columbia has been steadily losing residents, falling from about 6,500 in 2010 to 6,238 today, and the city hired Oxford-based Slaughter and Associates in July 2017 soon after the new board took office to study annexation. The cost of the study is capped at $15,000.
The proposed annexation area is mainly to the east and north, and the highest population density is in the Lakeview subdivision just east of the city. Some residents of the proposed annexation zone have voiced opposition, saying they don’t want to pay higher property taxes to be in the city.
The board could potentially annex less than the full area being proposed.
If the city eventually settles on what it wants to annex following Slaughter's study, it would pass a resolution defining the boundary, the improvements it planned to make and how long it expected to take to make the improvements. The city would then file a petition in Marion County Chancery Court and run a public notice in The Columbian-Progress for three weeks before a court hearing. Parties opposed to the annexation would have the right to present their objections at the hearing.
A chancellor would determine if the annexation "is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity" based on 12 standards laid out in the law.
The chancellor's decision takes effect within 10 days unless an appeal was filed with the state Supreme Court. In the case of an appeal, the Supreme Court would eventually issue the final ruling.
Ward 4 Alderman Mike Smith said Tuesday the board is cautious and researching the possibilities.
“We want what’s best for the city,” he said. “The study is a good first step.”
The currently proposed annexation area would add an estimated 1,443 residents. That would bring the city’s population up to about 7,681.
Slaughter said in the city there are approximately 2,800 homes and 620 on a study area map for outside the city. He also said racial balance plays a role, as the U.S. Department of Justice would have to approve any plan that affected changes in the community’s makeup. Currently, Columbia is 40.5 percent black. Under a possible scenario, the city would be 38.8 percent black with the addition of homes outside the current city limits.
“It’s just a slight change there,” Slaughter said “In my opinion it is not an overall impact on the minority voting strength. They are very similar in total.”
Slaughter said the numbers indicate that in the city clerk’s office would not need to add personnel or equipment, likewise for the courts, police and fire departments.
“The police department is staffed correctly when you look at officers per 1,000 population,” he said. “It was determined in meeting with the police chief that there are no additional personnel or equipment needed. I’ve also talked with the fire chief and with Ty Windham of the ratings bureau in Jackson. They said the city would keep its rating and that you would not need additional personnel or equipment at this time. If a lot of development occurred over the years, that might change as the city re-rated. But at current development conditions there are no additional stations or fire equipment needed at this time.”
Changes might occur in the street department, however.
“In the street department, we added two laborers, one truck with a dump body, one trailer and uniforms,” Slaughter said. “We have a total of 248 streetlights planned that would be implemented over a two-year period.”
In parks and recreation there would be no changes, but in building and code enforcement, a building inspector and pickup truck would be added. A comprehensive plan and zoning would be applied to the areas in question. The costs would be included in the formula for annexation.
“Our sales tax diversion includes more than 50 businesses in our study area,” Slaughter said. “We sent that list to the Department of Revenue, sales tax division in Jackson and asked them if those businesses had been located in Columbia the past two years, what would have been the diversion back to the city. In 2016, it would have been over $96,000, and the period ending June 30 of 2017 it would have been almost $99,000.
“However, some of these businesses don’t collect sales tax because they are not in the retail business. There are others that we know are in the area, but they didn’t find those in their rolls. The actual sales taxes diversion for these businesses if they were in the city would be more than this.”
Mayor Justin McKenzie had several questions about the study, including that several larger businesses, including the Mississippi 13 North Shell station and Dollar General on U.S. 98 near Columbia Academy, were missing from the report.
“I think these will be a factor in our decision,” he said. “Those two businesses could have a significant impact.”
Slaughter said he wanted to clarify the sales tax diversion for people who were concerned about it.
“One thing about it is that it doesn’t cost anybody anything extra,” he said. “I live in Oxford and if I stop at the Shell on my way out and buy my Coke and a pack of nabs, I’m going to pay my 7 percent sales tax. Right now that 7 percent goes to Jackson and they spend it as they see fit. Once it’s in the city, 18 ½ percent of that 7 percent will come back to Columbia to be spent in this community out of the general fund, which means police protection, fire protection, street maintenance, street lights, all sorts of things like that. One those businesses are in the city, that diversion will come back.”
McKenzie said the board needed to take the figures and information provided in the study to determine where the process goes in the future.
“Moving forward we’ve got to determine if we want to make an adjustment (on the initial map),” Slaughter said. “We would have to write a legal description and take a first official action. Right now, you’ve just been studying it.”
Alderman-at-Large Edward Hough suggested studying the matter until at least Tuesday’s meeting before taking any further action on the study.
The Board of Aldermen meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall in regular session.
Pictured Above: Consultant Mike Slaughter discusses the annexation study as it pertains to fire coverage during a meeting Tuesday at City Hall. | Photo by Mark Rogers
