If the city of Columbia decides to incorporate some surrounding areas, will lower fire insurance costs offset increased property taxes?
Would residents formerly outside city limits still be able to burn brush piles or keep livestock? How about shooting guns or fireworks?
The specifics aren’t known yet at this early stage, but as the Board of Aldermen prepares for its Nov. 7 meeting, aldermen and employees of consultant Slaughter and Associates will be working to give citizens answers.
In July, the Board voted to begin a study to see if annexation of county land outside the current city limits would be feasible. Slaughter, an Oxford urban planning firm, is currently working on that.
At the Oct. 3 meeting, Randall Todd, who lives near Columbia Academy, one of the proposed target areas, raised several questions for Mayor Justin McKenzie and the Board. Todd said he’d like to know how it is going to benefit him being in the city.
“We are in the study phase of this,” Ward 4 Alderman Mike Smith told Todd. “We are not in the annexation phase. We might be premature answering anything because we haven’t event gotten through the study yet. We don’t even know if it is going to be feasible for us to even annex your property.”
Todd asked about how long the process would last.
“It will be several months before the study is done,” Ward 2 Alderman Jason Stringer said. “The company that is doing the study said that normally it takes 18-20 months for anything to actually come to fruition. That is from start to finish.”
McKenzie said that there were several things that city residency would do for current county residents.
“It would give you a lower fire rating,” McKenzie said. “You’re already on city outside sewer.”
Todd said he had talked to his insurance agent and that he was currently at a Class 7.
“If you’re in a Class 7 now, and we’re in a Class 6,” McKenzie said. “The folks that live along National Guard Road are in a Class 10 and it would be a significant savings. On Mississippi 13 just north of town, those folks are 5.3 miles from the nearest fire station outside the city and they’re in a Class 10. Our Evergreen Street station is only a mile away and the city is a Class 6 and hopefully a Class 5 soon. One resident up there said that he would save 63 percent on his homeowners’ insurance: 63 percent is pretty substantial. That’s only for him and I can’t speak for others.”
Todd asked if the insurance decrease would offset any tax increase for his property if it was located in the city.
“In most cases, it has in the study we’ve done so far,” Smith replied.
Todd also asked about burning brush piles.
“A service the city provides is that if you put your brush out by the road, we’ll pick it up,” McKenzie answered. “As long as you don’t have a contractor come out and de-limb all of your trees, the city will come out and pick them up.”
Todd mentioned everything from fireworks ordinances to types of animals allowed.
City Attorney Lawrence Hahn spoke about the future possibilities.
“What Mr. Smith said is really true,” he said. “All of the pluses and minuses aren’t really known right now. We’re speaking in very general terms. A lot of people that live in the county now have had concerns about horses, cows, chickens; they want to shoot their guns and all these things. The Board is very aware of those issues. The idea that the Board is trying to operate under is that things that people are doing now that are reasonable things should not change drastically. The Board is not trying to annex in order to disrupt or change people’s manner of using their property. In years to come, there may be things that are looked at. Hopefully, your property will be worth more money because of the city limits being developed. Hopefully, there will be positive things that grow out of it. Your questions are legitimate and it’s not the first time the Board has heard similar questions. The folks that are doing the study Slaughter and Associates are looking at the map and looking at all of the numbers. The numbers that relate to fire insurance, the numbers that relate to sewer and water … taxes … that what they do for us and for you, so that we can all make an informed decision about it.”
The Board will continue discussions at future meetings.
“Unfortunately, the real answers, the answers that you can take home and dwell on, really won’t be known until the study is done,” Hahn said.
