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Libertarians Say Let the People Decide on Annexation
RALEIGH (Jan. 15) — The General Assembly’s Joint Commission to Study Municipal Annexation should tell the state legislature it’s time to let the people decide, a Libertarian Party of North Carolina spokesman said today.
“The commission heard the voice of the people loud and clear at their January 6 public hearing — again,” said Brian Irving, communications director. “The sea of red shirts forced annexation opponents have adapted as their attire flooded the packed hearing room.”
“Legislators already have the facts. It’s time to act,” Irving said. “They shouldn’t listen to the taxpayer-funded lobbyists and elected officials supporting forced annexation. They should listen to the people.”
“Libertarians call for an end to egregious violation of rights,” Irving said. “No more tweaks; no more concessions to municipalities. Let the people decide.”
Many of the talking points presented by the pro-annexation lobby group, the NC League of Municipalities, and the UNC School of Government are not founded in fact.
For example, these taxpayer-funded groups claim a 1975 report from the defunct Federal Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations hailed NC’s annexation law as a “model for the nation.”
Daren Bakst, legal analyst for the John Locke Foundation, calls this assertion “a lie” and “shocking” in his blog on the JLF website.
“The 1975 ACIR report actually favored boundary commissions and recommended those options to address annexation,” Bakst wrote on his blog. If states didn’t adopt this approach, then and only then, the report agreed the forced annexation model was needed.
Baskt notes that the School of Government omits pages from the 1975 ACIR report that includes model legislation setting up boundary commissions and instead only includes the NC-related legislation.
“The ACIR report’s real recommendations are completely different from what is listed on the UNC School of Government’s web site and from what Professor (David) Lawrence said at the first commission meeting,” Baskt writes. “They are giving the clear impression that the ACIR report only recommended NC’s statute.”
(Read the blog entry and get links to the ACIR report here: http://www.johnlocke.org/lockerroom/lockerroom.html?id=18533
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“I’ve been saying for years that the ‘talking points’ the NCLM propagates to legislators and city officials are poorly founded in fact and in many cases outright Madison Avenue spin,” said Cathy Heath, director of StopAnnexationNC.
Annexation opponents focused on three key points: give property voters a meaningful voice in the annexation process; require the municipality to provide meaningful services to those annexed; and oversight of the process by a third party.
The LPNC is the only party that unequivocally opposes forced annexation. Communities should only be annexed with their consent, given in a referendum, held in the same manner as a regularly scheduled election, so as minimize costs and encourage maximum voter participation.
When the people choose to be annexed, they should receive full city services, including sewer and sanitation services as soon as they become part of the municipality. Residents should not be assessed or required to pay property taxes until they receive these full city services.
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LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NORTH CAROLINA
PO Box 28141 Raleigh NC 27611 * 877.843.5762 * www.LPNC.org
Brian Irving, Communications Director, 919.538.4548
Posted to IPR by Paulie