Mike Carter – 29th DistrictChattanooga officials’ fears that a municipal “de-annexation” bill up for a state Senate vote today could lead to the loss Volkswagen and Enterprise South from the city’s tax base have been laid to rest.
But that doesn’t mean they’re happy about the legislation that allows residents annexed into some cities, including Chattanooga, to vote to secede from the municipalities.
“This makes little sense if you are trying to provide services efficiently,” deputy city attorney Phil Noblett argued last week. “You could end up having police officers driving by residential areas that we wouldn’t serve in order to serve commercial and industrial areas. You wouldn’t be serving the whole area.”
But the bill that originated with two Hamilton County legislators – state Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, and state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson – is likely to pass the Republican-run upper chamber no matter what local officials think.
The GOP-led House passed it last week on a 65-24 vote after a testy debate, with Democrats objecting.
The House version of the bill gives residents in five cities who live in areas annexed since 1998 a one-time chance to reverse the annexation. The window closes at the end of 2018.
Some opponents have questioned the bill’s constitutionality, since it applies only to a few cities. But Carter inserted language he hopes will keep courts away. The bill’s language accuses the five specific cities, listed not by name but by population categories, as having engaged in “egregious” instances of annexation.
Under the bill, 10 percent of registered voters in an annexed parcel could petition for a referendum. If more than half the voters in the referendum agree, the area would be excluded from of the city.
Chattanooga officials last week were concerned the bill could affect the Volkswagen plant and other parts of the Enterprise South industrial park. The city annexed the area in 1998 and has invested millions of dollars in developing the land for industry.
City officials weren’t sure if the parcel included residences whose voters could seek a de-annexation referendum.
Memphis city officials at one point claimed the bill would drain millions of dollars worth of property taxes from industrial and commercial properties. Officials there later backed off that assertion.
Carter and Watson point to provisions that allow cities to keep commercial and industrial property even if voters living in the same parcel to vote to secede.
“Only residential property is guaranteed a referendum,” Carter said.
Meanwhile, Watson is fairly confident of Senate approval even though Speaker Ron Ramsey doesn’t like the measure.
“My Senate members represent areas that those House members represent, and so I would think we would have adequate support to pass the bill,” Watson said last week.
Ramsey has filed an amendment that specifically removes Kingsport, one of the specified cities, from the bill’s provisions. It does that by excluding any city that operates its own school system, which Kingsport does.
If Ramsey’s amendment passes, the bill would apply to only Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and tiny Cornersville, in Marshall County south of Nashville.
House members last week accepted an amendment removing Johnson City after that city de-annexed some areas in response to the threat posed by the bill.
But the bill’s provisions won’t let departing residents off scot-free tax-wise. They would still be on the hook, conceivably for decades, to pay property taxes on their share of any general obligation debt issued during their tenure.
Chattanooga officials last week said they have concerns because the city used cash for some improvements and didn’t issue general obligation bonds.
According to the city attorney’s office, areas of the city annexed since 1998 would include Enterprise South; the U.S. Xpress site; the Ramsgate and Black Creek residential areas and commercial strips along Highway 58.
Black Creek residents petitioned to be annexed, Noblett said, although if 10 percent of them now disagree with that decision, it could be put to a new vote.
The bill specifically provides that if a de-annexation vote is successful, those who voted against removing themselves from the city can ask officials to be let back in.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com, 615-255-0550 or follow via twitter at AndySher1.