Annexation: Benton vs. Bryant
There were two public hearing meetings held last week regarding proposed annexation of Saline County land into either the City of Bryant or the City of Benton - and in some cases, both! You might wonder how that last part happened if you knew about the agreement in May 2005 between each city's planning commissioner that Bryant would have certain lands designated for future annexation and Benton would have the other. That means they drew lines around certain portions of Saline County on a map and each commissioner signed the map.Whether this annotated and signed map can be used as a legal and binding agreement (as opposed to one that some party simply honors because it was agreed upon) should become a big issue soon. I wrote about this before the meetings happened, and got video at both meetings.
Some questions county residents had for the Bryant Planning Commission:
Would my property require a fence? Can I build a shed? Can I keep livestock? What's the millage rate? What will happen to my well? Will the fire dept and police dept be stretched too far? What will happen to the volunteer fire fighters? Can I hunt on my land? Can I keep my shooting range?
Of the many citizens who spoke at the Bryant meeting, none wanted to be annexed. This included residents from different areas of the county and representatives from Alcoa & Almatis. The Planning Commission, however, voted unanimously to send it on to City Council.
There were a few notable exchanges during the meeting. Here's one between Bryant Mayor Larry Mitchell and a county resident...
Begin - 2:20
RESIDENT: What's going to happen when you start adding these fire departments and police... [the millage] is going to go up? Can you say that it's not going to go up? Our taxes are going to go up every time you add a new fire department, every time you add a new police department...
PLANNING COMMISSIONER LANCE PENFIELD: Bryant's millage - you can correct me or the City Council can. I'll let the mayor get that one.
MAYOR: Like Lance was saying, .0018 is what our millage rate is. The City Council can increase that. That hasn't been increased in - I don't know how many years. As far as school goes, that goes by a public vote like last year, or early this year I guess it was. That is a district-wide - school district-wide millage that goes to vote.
RESIDENT: You're saying that they can raise the millage.
MAYOR: I'll tell you what - I mean I'm not saying the millage will never increase, that's not a fair statement. No, I would not say that. But, we haven't increased that millage since... I don't remember when it was.
RESIDENT: I can't remember ever having y'all try to annex us either!
CROWD: (cue hilarity ensuing)
End - 3:54
Here's more video of the Bryant Planning Commission public hearing Monday, June 9th, 2008:
Here's the video from the Benton Planning Commission Public Hearing Tuesday, June 10th, 2008. The same thing happened at the Benton meeting. No one who spoke was for the annexation. There were quite a few people who wanted to speak, and one woman asserted that if this was a public hearing, then all who came to speak should be given the opportunity to do so. Benton Planning Commission Chairman, George Ellis, allowed the meeting to recess until after the official Planning meeting, and more questions were taken. Then when it got late, Mr. Ellis again allowed the meeting to recess (as opposed to adjourning) to take time for more questions to develop. An additional hearing on the matter will be held at 5:30pm Monday, July 1st, 2008 at the Benton Municipal Building.
Tags: annex, annexation, benton, bryant, city, county, grab, land, millage, property
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Shelli Russell on -
The Benton Courier has an article online now that gives Benton's point of view of this situation - in the words of Mayor Rick Holland and Marsha Guffey, director of community development for Benton. There are also some insights on the law and rights of citizens involved in annexation.
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Permalink Reply by Shelli Russell on
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Here's another article about the two cities' annexation struggle from the Northwest Arkansas Edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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Permalink Reply by Shelli Russell on
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SEE ATTACHED FILE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Note that there is a public hearing 5:30pm, Mon, July 7th at the Benton Municipal Complex,
114, S. East Street (just south of Sue's Pawn Shop). The August 12th special election will be for the registered voters both in the proposed annexation areas in the county and the city of Benton.
The county resident registered voters could possibly vote 3 times.
Aug 12 – Benton registered voters in the city limits and residents in Benton's proposed certain areas of Saline County will vote for or against annexing parts of the county into the city of Benton
Sept 9 – Bryant registered voters in the city limits and residents in Bryant's proposed certain areas of Saline County will vote for or against annexing parts of the county into the city of Bryant
Nov 4 – If Benton and Bryant both approve annexation through their individual elections, the registered voters in the affected county area(s) will vote to choose Benton or Bryant. - Attachments:
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Benton Annex Election Aug12.pdf, 2.4 MB
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Permalink Reply by Shelli Russell on
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The Salem community is HOT about annexation! Not in a good way.
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Permalink Reply by Heather Hardin on -
I live in the Salem Community and yes this is a very sore subject for the residents of Salem. We are rallying together so hopefully we will not be annexed in either city. This is very much a David vs. Goliath but we are determined to stay out of either city. Those interested can go to www.SaveSalem.us the website was just recently created but it is getting better. We have all of the resources we need in Salem (fire protection, police protection, electricity, water, and wonderful roads)! Those of you who live in the City of Benton or Bryant need to vote NO on this issue and tell your alderman to use your tax dollars to improve your current city. I know Benton is finally starting to fill vacancies that have long been in both the fire department and police department but it is known that they can just lay the new hires off the second money becomes an issue (this was done not too long ago), and this year Benton couldn't give their firefighters and police officers the same cost of living salary increase as the other city employees (how fair is that?). If Salem is annexed into the City of Benton it would only generate $150,000 a year more for the city (this figure includes the annexation south of the interstate), yet a new police and fire department substation would have to be built, that means new employees, vehicles, and probably a million dollar facility to house them. And have you driven on the roads in Benton lately? Since this annexation issue has arisen I have noticed a huge difference in the roads, ours in the county are pretty good, but the ones in Benton on the other hand are far from good. And we can't forget about the poor sewer district of Benton, I think that needs no explanation. (I apologize for picking on Benton but I happen to know this information about Benton but I am sure Bryant has some of the same issues if not more.)
In the Salem Community we enjoy being able to hunt, have livestock, the ability to shoot fireworks, and we enjoy our wonderful laid back atmosphere. I know some things would be grandfathered in but on the majority we would lose our freedoms that we enjoy. If we wanted to live in either city we would have bought a house there (some politicians need to take that to heart). This shouldn't be an issue over money (even though I know the only reason this is even coming up is because of the 2010 census) but people should be considerate of other people and understand the wants of the people in this annexation. All voting need not think about their own monetary gain or of the rich developers but think about those that live in the Salem Community and their desires in this matter (and need I remind you that the residents of the Salem Community do shop in both cities so they do already financially support both cities, if you treasure this then maybe you should consider us for a change)!!!
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Permalink Reply by Brad Moore on -
Heather:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts but I have to correct some of your points.
1. The funding for the new police officers is in the 2008 budget. So, money is not an issue and there will not be a layoff of the new hires.
2. Firefighters and police officers with one year of service received a substantial pay increase which was greater than the cost of living raise others received. Also, the remaining firefighters and officers did receive a raise and we are considering increasing that to the full 4% before year end. We have one of the best police and fire departments in the State of Arkansas.
3. The cost of any new police and fire stations will be paid for by ALL citizens of Benton - not just the citizens in the affected area. I do agree that Fire stations and Police stations are expensive but they are well worth the investment.
4. We are currently spending $5,000,000 on nine street projects in the City of Benton. There are good and bad roads in all areas (County, Benton, Bryant, etc.). If you spend money in Benton, a portion of your sales tax is funding these street projects.
5. Poor sewer district? Not sure what you are referring to. I can tell you that we are spending $13,500,000 to upgrade our sewer treatment plant which will have more than enough capacity for the Salem annexation (for those citizens in Salem that desire to have this service) and future growth for Benton. Also, we have installed large sewer lines in anticipation of servicing the Salem community. I believe you have been misinformed if someone has told you we have a "poor sewer district". Not sure why you make sewer an issue since no one in Salem will be forced to tie onto Benton sewer.
6. Regarding taxes, you currently have no voice how your tax dollars are spent in Benton. With annexation, you will have the privilege of voicing your opinion in the voting booth.
Sincerely,
Alderman Brad Moore
City of Benton
305 Hidden Meadows Drive
Benton, Arkansas 72015
501-778-3820
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Permalink Reply by Heather Hardin on
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Regarding #3 I understand it is funded by all of the city, but I am sure that money could go to something more deserving, we already have police and fire protection in our community.
Regarding #5 I wasn't refering to the city as a whole, I am sure you are familiar with MetroPlan's maps, they have a map of the City of Benton and have highlighted the areas served by pipes classified as poor throughout the city, it is Map 23. Benton Wastwater Collection and Treatment Facilities. For everyone to view you can go to www.benton.ar.gov and click on site map and scroll down to maps and click on #23, and there are other very informative maps here also, or I am sure you could go to city hall and ask about them there (because by the time I was finishing this reply I was no longer able to click to view any of the maps). And why has Benton already installed larger sewer lines in anticipation of servicing the Salem Community when it isn't yet part of the city and when many lines in the city need upgrading?
Regarding #6 Yes I do shop in the City of Benton and I completely understand I have really no say as to where those tax dollars go, but I also shop in Little Rock, North Little Rock and even in St. Louis and I promise you with where I live now I will never have the privilege of voicing my opinion of where tax dollars are spent in these wonderful cities.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Moore on
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Heather:
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to discuss these issues with you.
In total, we are spending $26,500,000 to upgrade the entire sewer system. Some of which includes "pipe bursting" which is a process to replace existing lines with new lines.
The Salem Community has been identified as one of Benton's growth areas for a couple of decades. The increase of our infrastructure is in anticipation of that growth.
Best regards,
Brad
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Permalink Reply by Heather Hardin on
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Thanks for all of your info, hopefully all of this will be settled in the upcoming months. Everyone just needs to take advantage of our wonderful freedom to vote (City of Benton Citizens and Residents being Annexed- August 12th; and City of Bryant Citizens and Residents being Annexed- September 9th) and whatever happens happens.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Moore on
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Map 23 is an excellent resource. It confirms the fact that the majority of our sewer lines are "NON-POOR". And, Map 23 reveals the fact that only one small section of "POOR" lines is near the Salem area.
-Brad
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Permalink Reply by Heather Hardin on
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Just to make it clear that the one small section of "POOR" lines near the Salem area isn't the only one within the city, they are located north and south of the interstate. And yes majority of them are "NON-POOR" but I would sure hate to live in one of the areas with "POOR" lines.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Moore on
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Some of the poor lines are in my neck of the woods. I'll check on a strategery for replacing these poor lines first thing tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Brad
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