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October 4, 2009

Anonymous The Kokomo Tribune Sun Oct 04, 2009, 12:50 AM EDT

A first public hearing on the City of Kokomo’s West Side Annexation plan could happen some time in November – a year and a half after Mayor Greg Goodnight proposed adding approximately 14,000 people and 14.2 square miles to the city.

City attorneys last month asked Special Judge Thomas Lett of Tipton County to extend a court-imposed deadline in a case that will determine whether more than 3,700 real estate parcels south and west of Kokomo will be annexed.

Since the spring of 2008, Goodnight’s plan has been modified. The city separated its annexation proposal into two cases: one east and one west. And the Kokomo Common Council cut about 2 square miles from the West Side Annexation in July 2008.

Goodnight’s proposal remains contentious. And the most important issue Lett must decide is whether annexation opponents meet the legal threshold for remonstrance. Under state law any remonstrance must have the signatures of 65 percent of parcel owners in the annexation area.

Which ever way the judge rules, we still believe both annexation plans to be good for Kokomo. In fact, most within the proposed annexation areas should’ve been brought into the city long ago.

We also want the city to receive its share of federal money, most of which is based on population and miles of roads. More federal money will benefit Kokomo and Howard County, as well.

We know many people in the affected areas fear our state lawmakers could remove the property tax caps of the legislative session of two years ago. It limited property taxes to 1 percent of a home’s assessed value.

Howard County residents must persuade their representatives to protect the tax caps by state constitutional amendment.

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