From the Logansport Pharos-Tribune:
Residents in Washington Township are preparing to fight Logansport’s annexation plans as the city gets ready for future meetings and votes on the matter.
The proposed areas to be annexed include about 500 parcels of land and about 100 houses to the south of the city. The border between Clinton and Washington Townships would serve as the western boundary of the annexation, going south to 400 South, then east to 50 East. The boundary would then go north to 300 South, boxing in the Logansport Municipal Airport and industrial park, then span east to 325 East before squaring back off at the city.
The annexation would exclude the land containing the homes between Stoney Pike Road and South River Road because the area provides little development opportunities and would require expensive utility installations to existing homes, according to Mayor Ted Franklin and consultants hired to assist with the project.
Franklin said the motivation behind the annexation is to include part of the Hoosier Heartland Highway within the city in an effort to attract developers and increase economic development.
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While a financial report prepared by Seymour-based Reedy Financial Group PC projected 2013 property tax collections in the proposed annexation areas to total $426,092, Shaver said he did not yet know what the impact would be on a property-by-property basis until he knows how the area will be zoned. He said he will be working with Logansport-Cass County Planning Director Arin Shaver to determine these details soon.
“I would expect there are some people whose taxes are going to go up,” Shaver said.
One factor that will have an impact on how the proposed annexation area could be zoned, which would in turn affect how it would be taxed, is a recently changed state law that currently prohibits the city from allowing agricultural landowners in an annexed area a 10-year property tax exemption. Mayor Ted Franklin and consultants assisting with the annexation project said they are working with Sen. Randy Head and Rep. Bill Friend to get the law changed back to allow for the exemption.
Should the law be changed back and should the Logansport-Cass County Planning Department decide to zone any of the annexed areas as agricultural, those landowners would be eligible for the 10-year exemption.
Lisa Hanson, a Washington Township resident who is also serving on the unofficial committee nominated to lead the opposition effort, said at the meeting that this tax abatement would only be applicable to Washington Township residents who currently own agricultural property. If they were to sell if and when the annexation goes through, Hanson said, it would be considered city property and the abatement would not apply to the new owner.
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http://pharostribune.com/local/x237737095/Residents-planning-protest-of-annexation
