Councilman Bill Russell took a turn.

Always opposed to forced

annexation, he said peoples' lives were hanging in the balance. They
could not afford to pay doubled property taxes. The city, however,
could get along with or without annexing them. He then made a
motion to withdraw the annexations the city was considering and put
a 12-24 month moratorium on pursuing any other annexation plans.
Esther Manheimer quickly seconded the motion, provided the
moratorium last only twelve months.



Manheimer wanted to be clear she embraced the School of

Government's philosophy that municipalities have to annex in order to
thrive. She was, however, sensitive to the concerns expressed. Jan
Davis thanked Russell for forcing the issue because annexing in
current economic conditions did not feel right. Other members of
council were not as supportive, so Russell backpedaled his motion to
where he could feel the traction of majority support. In the end,
council voted 5-2 to drop all plans for annexing the Royal Pines area,
letting 1595 people off the hook.



Before the vote, Gordon Smith launched into a speech about tax
inequities. It was the same old stories about Asheville having a high
daytime population, a ridiculously high number of emergency calls for
service, the burden of the ridiculous Sullivan acts, etc. After a few
minutes, anti-annexation activist Betty Jackson stood up and headed
for the door. She stopped short and shouted, You're passing the
buck! The police followed her into the hall. Only Smith and Brownie
Newman voted against the motion. Since Russell's motion was so
unprecedented, City Attorney Bob Oast will have to verify its
legitimacy.



Public Comment


Mike Parentice, a resident of Cooper's Hawk, thanked Councilman
Cecil Bothwell for sharing his positions on forced annexation, as it
gave him facts to challenge. First, Cooper's Hawk currently had
access to three county fire departments each about five minutes
away. The city has one department five minutes away, and the next
closest is twelve. Buncombe County EMS personnel are trained to
deliver more services than their city counterparts, and seven different
insurance companies assured Parentice the difference in the
organizations' ISO ratings would not cause homeowners' rates to go
down.



If annexed, residents' property taxes would go up 57 cents.

Numerous people told council they had no more to give. Belle Reina
spoke about current unemployment rates and the financial anxieties
of the lower and middle classes. People need to be getting
paychecks, not giving their paychecks away. She told how most
people are having to change their lifestyles to balance their budgets,
and suggested council do the same, remarking, We're not your
bailout.



We're yours to be taken, said Michael Hinman fatalistically about

what council was about to do. Hinman was one of very few who
admitted having enough financial resources to survive the
annexation. He wanted to correct a commentary that appeared in the
local daily saying Asheville City Council spent like drunken sailors.
When I was in the Navy and got drunk and ran out of money, I
stopped spending.



What water was not already provided by the city would continue to
come from wells. Tim Moffitt said he needed 1200 feet of pipe, to be
installed at his own expense of $140,000, before he could take
advantage of the city's water system.



Residents told how the extra $300-400 in property taxes would break
them. Bills, taxes, and mortgages were not being paid. Nicole
Hazzard referred to the process as d*** sad. She had lost her job
when the recession hit, and her husbandʼs hours were cut. They can't
pay their bills, and she's had to cut back on her meds. They can't pay
their mortgage and twice as much in property taxes. If annexed, like
many in Royal Pines, they wouldn't be able to sell their house in the
slow, slow market because similar houses right across the street with
only county assessments would sell before theirs.



Several came out against the city for its spendthrift reputation. Lisa
Fruchtman said the city would be eliminating affordable housing and
affordable rental units. Council wanted to deprive people of
discretionary funds that could go into the economy instead of
tightening government's belt. She reminded council they were
supposed to derive their powers from the consent of the governed.
Fruchtman didn't feel council had anybody's consent.


Alan Ditmore addressed the regulatory burden. Once annexed,

people wouldn't be able to burn brush, chain their dogs, grade their
driveways, shoot a gun, or feed chickens. Permitting requirements
would be onerous. What's more, by bringing a bunch of people into
the city who did not embrace urban values like domestic partner
benefits for city employees, the city would be reducing revenues from
the gay tourist trade.



Reina presented council with 650 signatures from residents opposing

the annexation. After the meeting she told the story of going door to
door informing her neighbors about what was about to happen.
Numerous residents shared that the greatest thing about the ordeal
was the way neighbors started pulling together.