The Columbia Board of Aldermen took a big step this week toward expanding the city’s reach, unanimously voting to move forward with annexation on Tuesday.
The board set a boundary line that cuts out a large portion north of the existing city limits from the original proposal but is otherwise mostly the same.
Mayor Justin McKenzie said picking up businesses will be a “huge benefit” in terms of sale tax revenues. Customers would still pay the same 7 percent, but the city would get 18.5 percent of that rather than the full 7 percent returning to the state.
All five aldermen voted Tuesday to move forward with the annexation: Edward Hough, Mike Smith, Anna Evans, Jason Stringer and Wendell Hammond.
Columbia has been losing population, falling from about 7,150 in 1990 to 6,238 today. When the new board took office in July 2017, it hired Oxford-based Slaughter and Associates to study annexing areas adjoining the existing city limits.
The city would receive additional sales tax and property tax revenue, while areas annexed would get police, fire, street sweeping and limb pickup services. Water service would remain with the existing water association for annexed areas.
Some residents of the proposed annexation zone, mostly in the Lakeview subdivision, have voiced opposition, saying they don’t want to pay higher property taxes.
The next step will be a land survey of the area to be annexed, and consultant Mike Slaughter will revise his figures about how many homes and businesses it will take in. The original numbers said the city would add about 1,400 residents and bring in an estimated $400,000 annually in additional tax money, but those numbers will change some with the city cutting out the area to the north.
Aldermen eliminated a large, mostly undeveloped area that extends up Mississippi 35 surrounding the airport. Instead, aldermen decided to only take in areas more immediately adjacent to the city. That includes part of North Park Avenue, Country Club Drive and a small section bordering Mississippi 13 North to take in the Shell station at 13 and 35.
McKenzie said the area to be annexed now runs across a section line, which will make the legal description easier to develop. City Attorney Lawrence Hahn said Dungan Engineering typically does surveying for the city and would already have some of what it needed.
McKenzie said picking up businesses at Mississippi 13 and 35 will bring in additional sales tax revenues, and Water Supervisor Michael McDaniel said the city already provides sewer service in that area near the Shell station.
While making the alteration to the north portion, called “Area 2,” the board otherwise did not make any new changes to the other five proposed annexation areas, although they had been shrunk down previously from what was originally presented in February:
Area 1: A small section west of the existing city limits that includes the Dean Griner baseball fields and a couple of business (Stamps Body Shop and Dawsey’s Sales and Service).
Area 3: A more densely populated area to the east that includes the Lakeview and Ashbury subdivisions.
Area 4: A small area south of U.S. 98 that includes the area where businesses like Columbia Rehabilitation and Body FX are located.
Area 5: An area south of 98 off Mississippi 13 where Foxworth Insurance and Singley Construction are.
Area 6: A small area to the southwest on 98 near the Pearl River that includes Dunn Roadbuilders, the Relax Inn and KOL Tinting.
The next step will be aldermen voting on an ordinance officially defining the area based on the legal description developed during the survey. That ordinance will also spell out their plan to make improvements to the annexed areas and how long those improvements would take.
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.
Pictured Above: The dark green areas represent places the city of Columbia plans to annex. The light red areas won’t be annexed even though they were originally considered. The city will be conducting a land survey to officially define the boundaries. After that it will vote on an ordinance setting those boundaries.
