Cities Want Out of Requiring Vote Before Annexation

Resident around Chattanooga have been trying to block the city from more than a dozen annexations. Image courtesy Hamilton County Residents Against Annexation

Tennessee’s legislature is weighing whether homeowners should have a say before being annexed into the boundaries of a city. A bill requiring a majority of voters to sign off is up for consideration in the state Senate tonight. And some lawmakers are looking for a way to opt out.

The reason annexation is an issue at all is that a property owner’s taxes often go up when they’re sucked inside the city limits. Theoretically, they’re paying for more services, like trash pick up or sewer lines.

If being part of a city is so great, local governments should convince the people who live there, says Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixon). But cities don’t want to.

“You’re getting stiff pushback from local governments,” Watson says. “But we don’t represent local governments. We represent individual citizens.”

Watson represents an area outside Chattanooga, where the city has been expanding despite homeowner resistance.

Rep. Charles Sargent says everything’s just fine in Williamson County where he says the city of Franklin has been growing responsibly.

“I think most counties would love to be in the economic situation that Williamson is in,” he says.

Sargent and a few others are hoping to exempt their districts even if a new annexation law does pass.