Annexation
Annexation Studies During the 1980s
There were two formal studies of the annexation law during the 1980s. The first was a joint effort by the state League of Municipalities and state Association of County Commissioners, during the first months of 1980. The joint committee made three recommendations for change, two quite minor, and a third which would have set up a process under which cities could be forced to annex adjacent areas that had become urban and were in need of city services. The minor changes made their way into the report of the second 1980s study and from there into law, but nothing has come of the proposal for mandated annexation.
The second study was done in 1982 by a committee of the Legislative Research Commission (LRC), which submitted its report to the 1983 General Assembly. That report recommended a number of minor procedural amendments to the statute (including the two included in the report from the joint committee of the League and Association) and the following major recommendations:
- Several counties had been excluded from the involuntary annexation statutes, and those exclusions should be repealed.
- Cities should be required to enter into service contracts with volunteer fire departments affected by an annexation, to pay a portion of volunteer fire department debt when the department was affected by an annexation, and to offer a job to any full-time employee of a volunteer fire department whose job was lost because of an annexation.
- The resolution of consideration should be added to the annexation procedure.
- Property owners within an annexation area for a city of 5,000 or more should have the right to demand extension of utility lines to their property within two years after the effective date of annexation, as long as the extensions were made pursuant to the city’s existing extension policies.
By and large the 1983 General Assembly enacted the LRC’s recommendations into law.
Resources
This is the former of two formal studies of the annexation law during the 1980s. This study, by the state League of Municipalities and state Association of County Commissioners, was undertaken during the first months of 1980. The joint committee made three recommendations for change, two quite minor, and a third which would have set up a process under which cities could be forced to annex adjacent areas that had become urban and were in need of city services. The minor changes made their way into the report of the second 1980s study and from there into law, but nothing has come of the proposal for mandated annexation.
This is the latter of two formal studies of the annexation law during the 1980s. This study was done in 1982 by a committee of the Legislative Research Commission (LRC), which submitted its report to the 1983 General Assembly. That report recommended a number of minor procedural amendments to the statute (including the two included in the report from the joint committee of the League and Association) and the following major recommendations:
- Several counties had been excluded from the involuntary annexation statutes, and those exclusions should be repealed.
- Cities should be required to enter into service contracts with volunteer fire departments affected by an annexation, to pay a portion of volunteer fire department debt when the department was affected by an annexation, and to offer a job to any full-time employee of a volunteer fire department whose job was lost because of an annexation.
- The resolution of consideration should be added to the annexation procedure.
- Property owners within an annexation area for a city of 5,000 or more should have the right to demand extension of utility lines to their property within two years after the effective date of annexation, as long as the extensions were made pursuant to the city’s existing extension policies.