AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott today announced that his call to reform and restrict the municipal annexation process is generating growing support across Texas. Reforming the municipal annexation process is part of the Governor’s 20-item agenda for the ongoing special legislative session.
“As the strongest voice for real estate consumers, the Texas Association of REALTORS® applauds Gov. Abbott for making municipal annexation reform a priority during the special session. We agree that voters deserve a say in whether their property is annexed into a city, and therefore, their property tax liability increases. TAR supported legislation during the regular session that would require cities to have voter approval to annex an area, and we will support similar legislation in the special session.” – Vicki Fullerton, Chairman, Texas Association of REALTORS®
“It is important for people in unincorporated areas to have the ability to vote amongst themselves to determine if a municipality is going to annex their land. Allowing the municipality voting block to dictate the acquisition of unincorporated land for tax purposes is neither fair nor just.” – Russell Boening, President, Texas Farm Bureau
“The voting process is a powerful tool, one that we are hoping to have in regards to ending forced annexation and one that we will continue to use for putting honest, decent, hard-working people in office that will represent us in our government. We have met some people in government who should be there, who have integrity and wisdom and believe in and understand good government. We have come to understand that laws that affect some of us affect all of us, that we are never truly safe until we understand and participate in the process and until we make sure we are represented by good people.” – Barbara Green, Vice President, Homeowners Against Annexation
“Our Association welcomes the dialog to assure a balance between cities and Texans whose reliance on their fire department or EMS may be disrupted by municipal annexation. We applaud the Governor’s leadership as he keeps this important topic in the fore after many hours of work on it during the Regular Session.” – Cliff Avery, Executive Director, Texas State Association of Fire and Emergency Districts (SAFE-D)
“Texans value their liberty and their right to decide where they want to live, where they want to buy their home and where they want to raise their family. Forced annexation is a taking of our individual choices and of our property rights. Greedy cities use forced annexation to fund perpetual spending sprees and avoid living within their means as hard working Texans, veterans, and retirees must do. Cities are making false claims that they have to annex already developed areas in the county near military bases to protect the bases from development when the truth is that they are only after the taxes of the homeowners who already live by the bases. This is a shameful pretext easily disproved by looking at the dense commercial development within the cities that the cities have approved around the bases. Forced annexation is taxation without representation and a forced government taking of our individual choices and our individual property rights. We implore our elected officials to vote for liberty, property rights, freedom of choice, and the right to vote! End forced annexation in Texas!” – Mike Stewart, President, Homeowners Against Annexation
“Texas is one of the few remaining states that still allows cities to forcibly annex property owners without their consent. Property owners conscripted by cities become subject to much higher taxes, more stringent regulations, and big government debt, whether they like it or not. This policy has no place in the Lone Star State and, as detailed by our research, the time has come to end forced annexation.” – James Quintero, Director, TPPF Center for Local Governance
“It is shocking to see Texas as one of the few remaining states that still permits forced municipal annexation. Our very independence is rooted in the foundational principles of property ownership and free enterprise. We must protect these values diligently. Property owners should have a say if they are willing to be annexed or not. Furthermore, property owners must be compensated fairly when the government annexes their land. and certainly not annexed for what their land can offer the government without receiving the benefit of electing said government. We expect the legislature to address these concerns along with several other property issues this session and anticipate results not rhetoric.” – Trayce Bradford, President, Texas Eagle Forum
“With regard to the issue of municipal annexation, it has been my experience in 12 plus years advocating for military service members and veterans, that those who have served in uniform tend to hold private property rights and the right of self-determination in extremely high regard. No entity should be allowed to purposefully infringe on these rights with impunity. Upholding these basic principles of liberty does not equate to somehow holding an anti-military position, as some have suggested recently. In fact, principles such as these are precisely what America’s veterans have fought to maintain for generations.” – Jim Brennan, Legislative Director, Texas Coalition of Veterans Organizations