Southwest Clay & Home Place Annexation Case Update

As we reported previously, the city of Carmel has appealed the two annexation cases they lost in Hamilton County Superior Court: Southwest Clay and Home Place. The Southwest Clay case was appealed directly to the State Supreme Court; the Home Place case was appealed to the State Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Southwest Clay case. Best guess from our attorneys is that the case will not be heard until sometime early 2007. Meanwhile, the Town of Fishers has said that it is not going to take further action regarding the forced annexation of the Geist area until the Supreme Court rules on the case. Obviously, the longer this takes the better for us—no annexation, no 22% tax increase.

The Court of Appeals was to hear oral arguments on the Home Place case last September 27th; but, that session was cancelled pending the Supreme Court ruling on Southwest Clay.

The Town of Fishers, along with several other towns and cities that have annexations underway—most of which have now been put on hold pending the State Supreme Court ruling—have filed friend-of-the-court briefs essentially supporting Carmel’s position. The outcome of the case may change the way annexations are approached and may (or may not) derail many of these annexation attempts.

Of course, the ruling will also give us and others a roadmap to follow in challenging these forced annexations. Stay tuned for more on this once the ruling occurs.

GUO Met with Brian Bosma

Brian Bosma, who is the state representative for this area and the Speaker of the House, requested a meeting with representatives from GUO to discuss annexation.

Four members of GUO—Pete Peterson, Rachel Quade, Patty Batesole, and Mike Fisher—met with Mr. Bosma on October 27th for a little over an hour. The group gave Mr. Bosma an update on our annexation status (Geist vs. TOF) and then discussed with him the larger issue of forced annexation in the state of Indiana.

Current state law provides for Municipal Determination; that is, any city or town can proceed with the annexation of a contiguous, unincorporated area pretty much because they want to. It is then up to the property owners of the targeted area to remonstrate against the annexation attempt, which costs them large amounts of time and money (as we all well know). If the remonstrators win, the city or town is not liable for any of the costs incurred by the remonstrators and can simply try again in four years. Indiana is only one of 5 states in the country that allows this type of forced annexation.

This is why it takes only four people on the Fishers town council to affect the lives and livelihood of over 20,000 people in the Geist area; keeping in mind that those so affected did not vote for nor have any representation on the town council Years ago this was often called “imperialism” or “taxation-without-representation.”

Neighborhood Coordinators and Block Captains are key players in helping distribute information regarding the attempted forced annexation of the Geist area, and will be vital when the time comes to gather signatures on the petition for remonstrance. For those of you who have volunteered for this important job, thank you!

GUO has been in contact with a number of other areas in the state that are currently in the process of being forcibly annexed by a city or town (e.g., Jeffersonville, Muncie, Pendleton, Georgetown, Carmel, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and others). Clearly, this is not just a local (Fishers or Carmel) issue, but a state-wide issue, which is why the request for a meeting from Mr. Bosma was fortuitous.

The current annexation law is archaic at best and does not take into account services provided by townships and county governments (paid for by the supported property owners). It also has a negative impact on farmers who happen to be in a territory desired by a city or town and are suddenly faced with significantly higher taxes; forcing many to sell (doesn’t bode well for feeding the people of Indiana or making bio fuels)—of course, if they do sell, the buyers typically develop the land (housing developments, strip malls) which, in turn, increases the value and, therefore, increases the tax income to the city or town.

Moreover, even if the remonstrators win, under current law the city or town can simply try again in four years—forcing the affected property owners to again raise money and collect petitions and spend significant amounts of time fending off the annexation. This is why it is in our collective best interest to get the law changed.

GUO and many others that we have spoken with agree that the law needs to be changed to one of Popular Determination in which annexations can only occur if agreed to by a majority of the affected property owners.

Mr. Bosma concurred that the current law is not fair to the affected property owners and would support a change in the law to at least make it a fair fight. However, it could take several years for that to occur and he offered some valuable advice on how to move forward with this issue.

This was a very worthwhile meeting and we appreciate Mr. Bosma’s time, interest, and help. GUO will continue to focus our efforts on fighting the good fight against forced annexation by Fishers. Meanwhile, several property owners in the Geist area are in the process of forming a Political Action Committee (PAC) and will take up the cause of changing the annexation laws. The PAC will begin by building synergy with the other anti-annexation groups in the state, as well as other interested organizations like the Farm Bureau and the Indiana Association of Counties. Please feel free to contact any GUO board member to be directed to those involved with the PAC if you would like to participate.

Neighborhood Meetings

Over the last couple of months GUO board members have met with several neighborhoods at their HOA meetings or neighborhood events to answer questions and provide status updates.

If your neighborhood has an upcoming event at which you would like a GUO representative to attend (holiday parties are particularly good events as we very much like the holiday goodies), just let us know: go to www.SayNoToFishers.com and click on the Contact GUO link.

Sewer Deals Aplenty

The pending State Supreme Court ruling notwithstanding, the Town of Fishers has not been totally idle. Three affected neighborhoods—Carefree Estates, Country Lane Estates, and Forrest Knoll—are currently on septic systems. The TOF has offered to hook them up to city sewers. The majority of the cost will still be paid by the homeowners, but TOF will spread the payments out over a number of years to lessen the out-of-pocket impact.

But, part of the agreement to be signed by each homeowner includes a clause in which the homeowner agrees not to remonstrate against annexation by the Town.

While everyone certainly understands why a homeowner might prefer a city sewer connection vs. staying on a septic system, it is unfortunate that they have to sign away their legal right to remonstrate against being forced to pay higher property taxes (in addition to the sewer connection fees and monthly sewer charges).

The Fishers Town Council has approved the Pre-Annexation (sewer connection) Agreements for Country Lane Estates and Forest Knoll. The homeowners of those neighborhoods are now considering the proposals for approval. Even if all of the homeowners sign the Fishers’ agreement, we can still easily mount a successful remonstrance as the number of homeowners (signing the agreement) is not large and will not materially affect the number of petitions needed.

GUO will continue to track and report on the situation. Regardless of the outcome however, we wish only the best to our friends and neighbors in Carefree, Country Lane Estates, and Forrest Knoll, and understand that their situation may be a bit different.

Thanks Mike Fisher!

A big thanks to Mike Fisher for putting this Friday report together!