Annexation topic of Mount Olive board session
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 5, 2008 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Annexation, a dirty word among many property owners in Wayne County, was a topic of conversation among Mount Olive Town Commissioners at their Monday night session.
Meanwhile, Town Manager Charles Brown will be in Raleigh today for a legislative hearing on annexation. Another hearing will be held Dec. 17.
A moratorium on annexation was floated, but failed to pass, during the recent legislative session.
Monday's town board discussion centered on the merits of annexation in parts of the town's industrial park on the Old Mount Olive Highway just north of town.
"I think the conclusion was that No. 1, before we try to do anything there, is to find out what the legislature is going to do because if we started down that road and they put a moratorium on it and we have spent that money, time and effort for nothing," Brown said.
"No. 2, I think the consensus was that we owed it to the property owners out there now to give them a pretty lengthy heads up," he said.
Brown noted that when Andy's restaurant opened its corporate headquarters in the industrial park, one of its conditions was a five-year grace period before it was annexed and had to start paying town taxes.
As of this budget year, the town has begun collecting taxes from Andy's.
Brown said the town board felt the other property owners at the industrial park should be treated the same.
The town would have two options where the annexation is concerned -- satellite annexation or extending the city limit out far enough to encompass the park.
"It is a fairly involved process," Brown said. "One of the things I want to discuss with the League Thursday is how involved it really is. How expensive. You don't want to get into something that is going to cost you more than what you are going to gain in taxes."
Once a municipality annexes an area it must provide city services including water and sewer, both of which already are available at the industrial park.
The town's major expense would be legal fees and survey and mapping costs, Brown said.
"I have no idea how much that would cost, but I wouldn't be surprised if it exceeded $100,000," he said. "You could spend half of that and then the state says 'we have just placed a moratorium on annexation forever.'
"So we just kind of want to see where the wind is blowing."
Brown pointed out that annexation has been controversial in Goldsboro and in other counties across the state.
"Goldsboro certainly handled it the way it should be handled," he said. "But there probably have been some cities that have abused the annexation process. They have gone out and taken in huge amounts of property for the tax revenue that they were not really capable of providing services to.
"So I think there is some basis for some citizens' concerns. But annexation is still one of the few tools towns like Mount Olive have to grow and prosper and continue to bring new revenue in."
Brown said the annexation process may need some changes, but that he would hate to see it banned completely.
The town has passed a resolution of intent to look into annexation at the industrial park.
"We are not sure now is the right time to move forward with that without more substantial study," Brown said.