Dear Editor,
If annexation is granted by the courts, it will inevitably be the newly annexed tax payers who are blamed for the tax increases levied by the city to ALL city residents. The majority of the 900-plus residents in the proposed annexation area simply do not want to be annexed into the city.
The city would be required by law to provide services like police protection, street maintenance, garbage pickup, fire protection and sewer services. The funding for these services simply will not be available. The city is already in debt and many of these services are not adequate for current city residents. This limited amount of new revenue will not be sufficient to cover these required services.
The new taxes would certainly place a financial burden on residents and future generations. The proposed annexed residents did not ask for this, the majority do not support it, and they certainly do not accept responsibility for any tax increases.
At this time the city of Columbia just cannot afford to take on the debt of annexation would eventually bring.
Call your alderman and tell them NO to the proposed annexation.
Tony Wilks
Columbia
