The GOP legislators are saying the right things and seem to understand annexation reform.? Unfortunately, HB 524 doesn’t do any of the things they discuss are needed for real reform.? If the bill comes out of the House in its current form, it won’t get better in the Senate, it will only get worse.
Hopefully, they will understand that passing a bill that hurts annexation reform just so the issue is kept alive isn’t doing anyone, except the League, any favors.
The one thing that I still don’t think the GOP gets is the issue of meaningful services.? Rep. Dollar spoke about municipalities needing to provide services above what the annexed area already has.
If a bill says services are needed that are above what is being received, or as HB 524 says a “higher level of service,” this will mean that a city could contract with the county to provide one extra deputy for an area that has excellent police service and that would be good enough.? In fact, HB 524 expressly uses the one police officer example as constituting a “higher level of service.”
If the bill did this, it would basically be reversing the holding in Nolan v. Village of Marvin.? In that case, the NC Supreme Court said that municipalities must provides services that are of a meaningful or significant benefit to property owners.
The issue of meaningful services therefore is about making sure that a municipality demonstrates that just one service is necessary for the area, or the service provides a significant benefit.
That’s not a lot to ask, yet opponents of annexation reform think municipalities should be able to annex even without providing just one service that provides a significant benefit to property owners.
Regarding third party oversight, I was happy to hear the legislators finally talk about county oversight.? This is the logical form of oversight and serves as a true compromise between the League’s extreme positions against a vote and the property owners that want a vote.
Finally, as it relates to the eminent domain amendment, if Rep. Stam is able to take out the physically blighted language in the amendment, it would make a big difference.
