Annexation Reform Needed Now

In North Carolina, citizens can easily be made subject to a change in governance with little power to do anything about it. Municipalities have the authority to take your property into city limits through forced annexation with approval of a city council that does not represent you, and is made up of representatives that you did not have the opportunity to elect. You can object, but opposition means very little because the existing annexation laws are designed to favor city governments. You can voice your opposition at public hearings where time limits are placed on the speakers, and as history has proven, your viewpoint will be ignored by city leaders.

Your property does not have to be connected to land that is already within city limits. There is a procedure called "Satellite Annexation" that allows outlying areas to be taken into city domain as well. So, you do not have to live adjacent to a city to be safe from annexation.

North Carolina remains one of the few states that allows involuntary annexation. The State Grange along with other groups, including a coalition known as Stop Involuntary Annexation Now, is very active in providing a voice for those who oppose this forced action against citizens. There has been a public outcry through communications, publicity, as well as public hearings against forced annexation. However, it has been an uphill battle to convince the General Assembly to act because so many of them are listening to the cities, rather than the citizens.

Forced annexation is arguably one of the most blatant legal acts in this state that succeeds in removing individual liberties from the citizenry. It simply establsihes citizens and cities as adversaries in an unfair arena, because the laws are biased toward the municipalities.

A simple solution is to allow landowners affected by possible annexation to vote on whether or not they want it to happen. However, city leaders do not want this to happen, because they realize that in order to get a positive vote, they will have to make annexation attractive. It would also reduce power, which can be difficult for anyone to give up. All of us have to be accountable for our actions. What would be wrong with municipalities being accountable to citizens by being required to make annexations attractive in order to get a positive vote?
Nothing. If the annexation is not worthwhile to the citizens affected, it should not happen anyway!