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February 27, 2010

Anonymous The Kokomo Tribune Sat Feb 27, 2010, 05:12 PM EST

The City of Kokomo’s West Side Annexation plan remains in legal limbo – nearly two years after Mayor Greg Goodnight proposed adding approximately 14,000 people and 14.2 square miles to the city.

City attorneys earlier this month filed a motion asking Special Judge Thomas Lett of Tipton County to permit a review of his Jan. 12 ruling. It denied the city’s motion to dismiss a challenge by West Side remonstrators and certified the sufficiency of signatures for trial.

If Lett denies the city’s latest request, a court likely 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. Lett ruled last month 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.

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 the removal of property tax caps the Legislature installed two years ago. Those caps limited property taxes to 1 percent of a home’s assessed value. Hoosiers will vote whether to protect the caps in a constitutional amendment in November.

A vote for the amendment would do more to shield West Side homeowners from property tax spikes than fighting annexation.

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