Many North Carolinians choose to live in areas of a county that aren’t yet part of a municipality. However, this choice means nothing under N.C. law. Through the state’s outdated and regressive annexation law, municipalities can force many individuals to live within city or town borders.
Annexation victims have criticized municipalities for the current annexation mess. Municipalities are the ones that use this undemocratic and unethical process. They also regularly abuse the law, such as using annexation for financial bailouts.
The state legislature also has been criticized because municipalities wouldn’t be able to take these undemocratic steps without the state authorizing them to do so. Even though most legislators understand that the system is flawed, a few powerful legislators are blocking real annexation reform.
For some reason, though, counties receive little criticism. When it comes to forced annexation, counties and the county commissioners that sit idly by or make feeble attempts at fighting forced annexation are at least as big of a villain as municipalities and the state legislature.
When a community is annexed, the municipality has no relationship with that community. The municipal leaders don’t represent members of the annexed community, nor do they care what the annexation victims think about the annexation.
County commissioners do have a relationship with the annexation victims. They are the local government officials who are supposed to be representing these victims. Yet they do nothing. As annexations have devastated communities across the state, counties have closed their eyes as municipalities continue their land grabs.
When annexation victims have to give up their homes because they can’t afford the high taxes or additional fees that arise from a forced annexation, the commissioners who are supposed to be helping these people are putting their heads in the sand.
While the annexation law doesn’t give counties the authority to block a specific annexation, this doesn’t mean counties can’t take other actions to fight a specific annexation or to help reform the entire annexation process.
County officials should be using whatever leverage they have over a municipality to stop a specific annexation. They should use their bully pulpit to speak out against annexations. They also could pressure state legislators representing the county to introduce and pass legislation that would block a specific annexation.
More important, county officials should lead the charge for annexation reform. They should take an active role in trying to change the annexation law that is used to hurt county residents.
County officials should be directly lobbying the state legislature to change the law. They should pressure the taxpayer-funded N.C. Association of County Commissioners, their lobbying organization, to take a strong stand against forced annexation. These efforts would make a major difference.
At recent public hearings on annexation before the legislature, county representatives were nowhere to be found. The NCACC was invisible. County officials were on the sidelines, because, apparently, they couldn’t care less about forced annexation.
Worse, while municipal residents have local representation from the municipality and the county, those who live outside municipalities have representation only from county commissioners. Residents are counting on the commissioners, and the commissioners are letting them down.
Annexation victims should continue blaming municipal officials and state legislators for the sham annexation law, but they should stop ignoring the counties. Victims are unable to hold municipal leaders accountable, through elections, until well after being annexed. They are able to hold only a couple of legislators accountable. However, they generally can hold half of the county commissioners in their county accountable before or shortly after being annexed.
Hopefully, county officials will wake up and take a leadership role in fighting the state’s annexation law. Annexation reform is gathering momentum. This is a unique time for counties to make a difference and protect all of their residents, not just those who live in municipalities.
Daren Bakst is the legal and regulatory policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation.