| TO: | Honorable Anna Mowery, Chair, House Committee on Land & Resource Management |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB568 by Mowery (Relating to a revision of the procedures for municipal annexation.), As Introduced |
The bill would change the procedures and requirements a municipality must follow when annexing or disannexing an area, including requiring the municipality to hold an election in both the area to be annexed and in the municipality itself to obtain approval prior to annexation. Voter approval would be required in both elections. If there are no residents in the area to be annexed, an election would still be required in the municipality.
The bill would repeal certain sections of the Local Government Code that would conflict with the new procedures. The bill would take effect September 1, 2003. The proposed changes in statute related to annexation for limited purposes would apply only to those proceedings instituted on or after March 1, 2004. The other proposed changes in statute would apply only to annexation of an area for which the municipality conducts the first public annexation hearing on or after September 1, 2003.
Cities wanting to annex applicable areas would experience costs associated with conducting elections in the area to be annexed and in the city to which the annexed area would be added. For cities in which annexation is a possibility, if the voters turned down annexation, cities would lose access to a potential addition to the tax base and may experience additional costs for infrastructure and services within the city limits as usage increases by those outside of the city limits. The amount would vary by municipality. If, however, voters approve annexation, the provisions of the bill would have only added election costs to annexation procedures.
| Source Agencies: | 304 Comptroller Of Public Accounts
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| LBB Staff: | JK, CL, JB, DLBa
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